McGahn immediately sprang into action, calling Kavanaugh just a few hours after the Kennedy news broke and meeting with him in person two days later. McGahn was present on July 2, when Kavanaugh was interviewed by Trump, and two days later when the judge met with Vice President Mike Pence. On the morning of Sunday, July 8, Kavanaugh spoke again with Trump, this time by phone, and that evening he sat down with the president and his wife, Melania, at the White House. During that meeting, Trump offered Kavanaugh the nomination and he accepted, speaking later that evening with McGahn.
McGahn was on his way out of the White House, having clashed with Trump and cooperated with the investigation of the president by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Kavanaugh’s confirmation would be McGahn’s last push—for Trump’s legacy as well as his own. He planned to leave the job as soon as his friend’s place on the bench was assured. “He wanted to steer that process in a good and principled direction—he was Kavanaugh’s Sherpa,” said Akhil Reed Amar, a prominent constitutional law professor at Yale Law School. “He persuaded Trump to go with Kavanaugh, and he persuaded Trump to stick with Kavanaugh after Ford. Kavanaugh is McGahn’s greatest accomplishment.”
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