Trump Denies Reports Alleging He Wanted to Fire Mueller, Slams Ex-WH Counsel

The statement follows a Friday report made by The Wall Street Journal that former White House Counsel Don McGahn declined to state publicly — at the request of the US administration — that he did not believe the US president obstructed justice when Trump allegedly ordered McGahn to seek the dismissal of Mueller in June 2017.

I was NOT going to fire Bob Mueller, and did not fire Bob Mueller. In fact, he was allowed to finish his Report with unprecedented help from the Trump Administration. Actually, lawyer Don McGahn had a much better chance of being fired than Mueller. Never a big fan!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 11 мая 2019 г.

According to the redacted Mueller report, cited by Politico, Trump instructed McGahn to inform Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that Mueller must be fired. However, McGahn refused Trump’s subsequent request to refute press reports of the president’s directive, the Mueller report said, cited by Politico.

READ MORE: Mueller Letter Conspiracy Supposed to Replace Debunked Russiagate

Don McGahn resigned as the White House's top lawyer last October. According to the US-based media reports, the Ex-White House Counsel was one of the key witnesses during Robert Mueller's investigation into the alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

On Tuesday, McGahn refused to comply with a congressional subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee to produce documents having to do with Mueller’s probe. White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said in a letter to the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, that McGahn's record remains legally protected from disclosure.

The Judiciary Committee's subpoena demanded McGahn provide the Judiciary Committee with documents related to the investigation by 7 May and to testify before the committee on 21 May.

READ MORE: The Latest Desperate Attempt to Keep Debunked "Russiagate" Story Alive

The Mueller report — released earlier by the US Department of Justice — found no evidence of collusion between Trump and his campaign with Russia in the 2016 US presidential election campaign. However, Mueller described ten episodes that may constitute obstruction of justice by the US president.

Russia has repeatedly denied any claims of interference in the US political system, saying the allegations were made up to excuse the election loss of Trump's opponent and deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.