WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump ordered the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller last June, but he backed off the order after White House lawyer Don McGahn threatened to resign, according to a report Thursday in The New York Times.
The newspaper reports that Trump demanded Mueller's firing just weeks after the special counsel was first appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
McGahn said he would not deliver the order to the Justice Department, according to The Times, which cites four people familiar with the request by the president.
Trump argued at the time that Mueller could not be fair because of a dispute over golf club fees that he said Mueller owed at a Trump golf club in Sterling, Va. The president also believed Mueller he had a conflict of interest because he worked for the same law firm that was representing Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday night. Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer working on the response to the Russia probe, declined comment Thursday night.
Latest videos
- N.C. Woman Murdered Husband's Co-Worker Because She Mistakenly Thought They Were Having an Affair People
- UN: deadlock over use of chemical weapons in Syrian civil war Euronews
- CIA Director: NKorea Closer to Nuclear Weapons Associated Press
- Report: Ivanka Trump Part Of Effort To Potentially Replace John Kelly GeoBeats
- Women's March Sets Its Sights On Ballot Box Associated Press
- Trump Arrives at Pentagon Amid Budget Battles Associated Press
- Catalan parliament holds first meeting, voting in separatist MP as speaker Euronews
- Biden: We're Undergoing 'A Battle For The Soul Of The Nation' GeoBeats
- Thousands evacuated as Philippine volcano nears eruption Euronews
- Legendary Musician Eric Clapton Says He Is Going Deaf Wibbitz
- James Franco Accused of Inappropriate Behavior By Five Women Entertainment Weekly
- Is an Oprah Presidency a “Slayed or Shade”? Essence
- House GOP Leaders Look Ahead to 2018 Agenda Associated Press
- Did Steve Bannon ever matter? Mic
- Nissan Brain-to-Vehicle technology redefines future of driving - Vehicle Prototype and Action Prediction Validation AutomotoTV
- Executive order targets gun shows Fox5
- Trump Mocks Kim Jong Un: My Nuclear Button is 'Much Bigger' Wibbitz
- Teen Kills Family in New Year's Eve Shooting Time
- Fire at Rooftop Mumbai Restaurant Leaves 15 Dead Associated Press
- Boiling Water Turns to Snow in Record N.H. Cold Associated Press
The response from Democrats was nearly immediate. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that if the report in The Times is true, Trump has crossed a "red line."
"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," Warner said.