Did president order Mueller to be fired?
‘Fake News,’ Trump says after report
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday denied that he had ordered the firing of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel in the Russia probe, and called reports of the June incident “fake news.”
The New York Times reported Thursday evening that Trump ordered Donald F. McGahn II, his top White House lawyer, to dismiss Mueller just weeks after Mueller took over the Russia investigation. The president relented after McGahn refused to ask the Justice Department to fire Mueller and threatened to quit.
Trump responded to The Times report during a trip to Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum, a gathering of world leaders and global business executives.
Upon arrival at the Congress Center in Davos, Trump was greeted by a scrum of the forum’s participants snapping cellphone photos and by a large group of reporters asking why he had ordered Mueller’s firing. “Fake news, folks,” Trump replied. “Fake news. Typical New York Times fake story.”
The Times report was based on four people who were told of the matter. On Thursday, Ty Cobb, who manages the White House relationship with Mueller’s office, declined to comment. Some Democrats were outraged to learn the president had ordered the firing of Mueller last year, even if he eventually backed off.
“I’ve said it before, and I am saying it again: firing the special counsel is a red line that the president cannot cross,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said Thursday. Warner is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is one of the congressional panels investigating the Trump campaign’s possible ties with Russia.
“Any attempt to remove the special counsel, pardon key witnesses, or otherwise interfere in the investigation would be a gross abuse of power, and all members of Congress, from both parties, have a responsibility to our Constitution and to our country to make that clear immediately,” he said.
Even as some Republicans have tried to discredit the Russia inquiry, some senior Republicans have previously said that they would not support the firing of Mueller.
A spokesperson for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., said Friday that the speaker’s position has not changed since Ryan said in June that Mueller should be left alone to do his job. And a spokesperson for Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said Cornyn still thinks it would be a “mistake” to fire the special counsel.
The June incident could emerge as an important part of Mueller’s probe, part of which is looking into whether Trump or anyone in the White House or associated with his campaign obstructed justice by trying to impede investigators looking into the possibility of campaign-related collusion with Russia.
Trump’s order to fire Mueller came in the month after the president did fire FBI Director James B. Comey, later citing the Russia probe as a reason for his decision. At the time, Comey was in charge of the FBI’s investigation into collusion with Russia during the election. The firing of Comey in May directly led to Mueller’s appointment.
Trump’s denial of the June incident echoes repeated statements by the president and other White House officials that Trump had never considered firing the special prosecutor.
“I haven’t given it any thought,” Trump told reporters in August. “Well, I’ve been reading about it from you people. You say, oh, I’m going to dismiss him. No, I’m not dismissing anybody.” John Dowd, the president’s personal lawyer, said that same month that firing Mueller has “never been on the table, never.”
But four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a continuing investigation, said Trump ordered the firing, citing what he believed were three reasons that Mueller has a conflict of interest that should prevent him from leading the Russia investigation.
Those included claims about a disputed payment of fees by Mueller at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia; the fact that Mueller worked at the same law firm that represented the president’s sonin-law; and Mueller’s interview with the president to be FBI director before he was appointed to be the special counsel.