directed him to call Rosenstein and say that Mueller had conflicts that precluded 573 him from serving as Special Counsel. On the first call, McGahn recalled that the President said something like, 574 “You gotta do this. You gotta call Rod.” McGahn said he told the President 575 that he would see what he could do. McGahn was perturbed by the call and 576 did not intend to act on the request. He and other advisors believed the asserted conflicts were “silly” and “not real,” and they had previously 577 communicated that view to the President. McGahn also had made clear to the President that the White House Counsel’s Office should not be involved in any 578 effort to press the issue of conflicts. McGahn was concerned about having any role in asking the Acting Attorney General to fire the Special Counsel because he had grown up in the Reagan era and wanted to be more like Judge 579 Robert Bork and not “Saturday Night Massacre Bork.” McGahn considered the President’s request to be an inflection point and he wanted to hit the 580 brakes. When the President called McGahn a second time to follow up on the order to call the Department of Justice, McGahn recalled that the President was more direct, saying something like, “Call Rod, tell Rod that Mueller has conflicts and 581 can’t be the Special Counsel.” McGahn recalled the President telling him 582 “Mueller has to go” and “Call me back when you do it.” McGahn understood the President to be saying that the Special Counsel had to be removed by 583 Rosenstein. To end the conversation with the President, McGahn left the 584 President with the impression that McGahn would call Rosenstein. McGahn recalled that he had already said no to the President’s request and he was worn 585 down, so he just wanted to get off the phone. McGahn recalled feeling trapped because he did not plan to follow the President’s directive but did not know what he would say the next time the 586 587 President called. McGahn decided he had to resign. He called his personal lawyer and then called his chief of staff, Annie Donaldson, to inform 588 her of his decision. He then drove to the office to pack his belongings and 589 submit his resignation letter. Donaldson recalled that McGahn told her the