The White House's Top Lawyer Met With Robert Mueller's Team

The news that top White House lawyer Don McGahn has met with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team may have raised eyebrows among close watchers of the Russia investigation, but his predecessors in the job say the cooperation itself is not that unusual.

Three former White House counsels told TIME that because the job entails representing the office of the presidency — and not the individual currently holding it — it’s perfectly logical that he would meet with a special counsel investigating it.

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served as White House counsel from 2001 to 2005, said that was the first thing he said to President George W. Bush when a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity in 2003.