Trump wanted to order Justice to investigate enemies

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told the White House counsel in the spring that he wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute two of his political adversaries: his 2016 challenger, Hillary Clinton, and former FBI Director James Comey, according to two people familiar with the conversation.

The lawyer, Donald McGahn, rebuffed Trump, saying the president had no authority to order a prosecution. McGahn said that while the president could request an investigation, that, too, could prompt accusations of abuse of power. McGahn had White House lawyers write a memo to Trump warning that if he asked law enforcement to investigate his rivals, he could face a range of consequences, including possible impeachment.

The encounter was one of the most-blatant examples yet of how Trump views the typically independent Justice Department as a tool to be wielded against his political enemies. It took on additional significance in recent weeks when McGahn left the White House and Trump appointed a relatively inexperienced political loyalist, Matthew Whitaker, as the acting attorney general.

It is unclear whether Trump read McGahn’s memo or whether he pursued the prosecutions further. But the president has continued to privately discuss the matter, including the possible appointment of a second special counsel to investigate both Clinton and Comey, according to two people who have spoken to Trump about the issue. He also has repeatedly expressed disappointment in the FBI director, Christopher Wray, for failing to more aggressively investigate Clinton, one of the people said.

It is not clear which accusations Trump wanted prosecutors to pursue. He has accused Comey, without evidence, of having illegally shared classified information with The New York Times in a memo that Comey wrote about his interactions with the president. The document contained no classified information.

Trump’s lawyers also privately asked the Justice Department last year to investigate Comey for mishandling sensitive government information and for his role in the Clinton email investigation.

Trump has grown frustrated with Wray for what the president sees as his failure to investigate Clinton’s role in the Obama administration’s decision to allow the Russian nuclear agency to buy a uranium-mining company.