Trump ordered Mueller’s firing but was refused

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump ordered the firing last June of Robert Mueller, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, according to four people told of the matter, but ultimately backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than carry out the directive.

The West Wing confrontation marks the first time Trump is known to have tried to fire the special counsel.

Mueller learned about the episode in recent months as his investigators interviewed current and former senior White House officials in his inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice.

Amid the first wave of news media reports that Mueller was examining a possible obstruction case, the president began to argue that Mueller had three conflicts of interest that disqualified him from overseeing the investigation, two of the people said.

First, he claimed that a dispute years ago over fees at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia had prompted Mueller, the FBI director at the time, to resign his membership.

The president also said Mueller could not be impartial because he had most recently worked for the law firm that previously represented the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Finally, the president said, Mueller had been interviewed to return as the FBI director the day before he was appointed special counsel in May.

After receiving the president’s order to fire Mueller, the White House counsel, Donald McGahn II, refused to ask the Justice Department to dismiss the special counsel, saying he would quit instead, the people said.

They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a continuing investigation.

McGahn disagreed with the president’s case and told senior White House officials that firing Mueller would have a catastrophic effect on Trump’s presidency.

McGahn also told White House officials that Trump would not follow through on the dismissal on his own. The president then backed off.

Ty Cobb, who manages the White House’s relationship with Mueller’s office, said in a statement, “We decline to comment out of respect for the Office of the Special Counsel and its process.”

McGahn, a longtime Republican campaign finance lawyer in Washington who served on the Federal Election Commission, was the top lawyer on Trump’s campaign.

He has been involved in nearly every key decision Trump has made — like the firing of the former FBI director — that is being scrutinized by Mueller.

McGahn was also concerned that firing the special counsel would incite more questions about whether the White House was trying to obstruct the Russia investigation.