Trump denies plans to fire Mueller over FBI probe

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump insisted he has no plans to fire special counsel Mueller, despite his team’s recent attacks on the credibility of the probe into Russian meddling in the US election.

With the ex-FBI director’s investigation making inroads into the president’s inner circle in recent weeks, Republicans have sought to cast doubt on its impartiality and pressed for a new independent prosecutor to investigate antiTrump bias.

This in turn has led to speculation that the administration could be laying the groundwork for firing Mueller.

But Trump shot down those rumours. Asked whether he was going to fire Mueller, the president told reporters: “No, I’m not.”

In a letter to congressional committees, Trump campaign lawyer Kory Langhofer alleged the General Services Administration (GSA) “unlawfully produced” private materials, including privileged communications that Mueller then used as part of his Russia probe.

The GSA is the government agency that supports presidential transitions – the interim period after a new president is elected but before he takes office.

Langhofer wrote that Mueller’s office “received from the GSA tens of thousands of emails, including a very significant volume of privileged material”, according to a copy of the letter published by Politico.

The letter added that a warrant should have been obtained for such materials, and said it violated the Presidential Transition Act.

Trump said “my people are very upset about it”, calling the development “quite sad”. — AFP