Trump furious with White House counsel McGahn for foisting Kavanaugh on him: report

The contentious relationship between Donald Trump and White House counsel Don McGahn has taken a turn for the worse with Trump privately blaming the attorney for recommending now-embattled Brett Kavanaugh to him to sit on the Supreme Court.

According to a Washington Post report, McGahn -- who is expected to leave the White House soon -- has made it his mission to get Kavanaugh seated as his last act serving the president but did not anticipate how badly the process would go, with multiple accusations of sexual misconduct and drinking problems dogging the judicial nominee.

The report states that McGahn "has been in bunker mode, working nearly nonstop to save the nomination by serving as both lawyer and crisis communications adviser to Trump and Kavanaugh, often being the rare person who will speak bluntly to both men."

With McGahn being credited in the report for coaching Kavanaugh to be combative in his responses to Senate Democrats -- which reportedly delighted Trump and may have saved the judge's nomination -- he is still in Trump's doghouse for turning a Supreme Court nomination into a major battle for the White House.

According to the Post, sources in the White House and several Republicans claim that Trump is privately furious with McGahn over the Kavanaugh debacle, with Trump admitting that he barely even knows the federal judge. Trump reportedly believes that McGahn picked Kavanaugh because he is part of the conservative establishment that GOP-outsider Trump normally loathes.

In a recent admission at a Mississippi rally, Trump told the crowd, "I don’t even know him [Kavanaugh]. I met him for the first time a few weeks ago. So it’s not like, ‘Oh, gee, I want to protect my friend.’”

The report goes on to state that McGahn likely has stuck around the White House, despite his poor relationship with Trump, because he wanted his legacy to include shepherding two conservatives (including Neil Gorsuch) onto the court before going back to the private sector.

You can read the full report here.