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Trump Denies 'Fake News' He Tried to Fire Mueller Despite 'Legal Right to Do So'

The statement followed a subpoena issued for former White House counsel Don McGahn by the Democratic chairman of the House judiciary panel to testify and provide documents to the committee. Previously Trump had pledged to oppose every subpoena from House Democrats probing his administration.
Sputnik

US President Donald Trump has rejected “Fake News Media” reports that he told “then White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire [Special Counsel] Robert Mueller”.

Writing on his Twitter page, Trump said that if he'd wanted to fire Mueller, he had “the legal right to do so” all by himself.

“Nevertheless, Mueller was not fired and was respectfully allowed to finish his work on what I, and many others, say was an illegal investigation (there was no crime), headed by a Trump hater who was highly conflicted, and a group of 18 very angry Democrats,” Trump tweeted, insisting on the need for “draining the swamp”.

READ MORE: Trump Campaign's Fundraising Allegedly Soars After Release of Mueller Report

The remarks came after US House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler reportedly subpoenaed former White House Counsel Don McGahn earlier this week to testify before the panel in its investigation of possible obstruction of justice by Trump. 

Reuters quoted Nadler as saying that “Mr. McGahn is a critical witness to many of the alleged instances of obstruction of justice and other misconduct described in the Mueller report”.

According to the report, McGahn had been on the verge of resigning when Trump told him to ask Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to fire Mueller. Trump then denied using the word “fire”, which Reuters used in reporting McGahn's words to Mueller.  

READ MORE: Mueller Relied on Untested Intel to Justify Russia Allegations — Ex-FBI Counsel

Nadler’s subpoena followed last week's release of the results of Mueller's probe into allegations of collusion between Trump's team and Russia.

'Nothing Attracts Attention' in Released Mueller Report - Moscow
The report found no evidence of collusion between any member of the Trump campaign and Moscow. At the same time, the document detailed some instances where Trump may have tried to obstruct the investigation, but his attempts failed, largely because of his officials' refusing to accede to his requests.

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

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