President Trump scolded White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and kicked him out of the Oval Office for coughing during his all-access interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News.

The tense moment was broadcast on Sunday nationally on the ABC special President Trump: 30 Hours, during which Stephanopoulos asks probing questions about the Mueller investigation, Barack Obama, and sagging poll numbers.

The segment involved Stephanopoulos pressing Trump about his reported plans to build a skyscraper in Moscow during the 2016 campaign.

Trump’s relationship with Russia has come under scrutiny, particularly in light of Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the election.

Pres. Trump says he “might” turn over his “financial statement” to Congress.



“I hope they get it, because it’s a fantastic financial statement,” he tells @GStephanopoulos in the Oval Office. https://t.co/8q0FwFD9qt pic.twitter.com/fw1tIc0vxO — ABC News (@ABC) June 17, 2019

President Trump angrily scolded his White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney (not seen on camera), during his interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, which aired on Sunday

Mulvaney (seen above in Washington, DC last Tuesday) angered the president by coughing in the middle of an answer he was giving during his interview

Trump has denied that his campaign colluded with the Russians.

‘It was a concept of a deal, more of a concept than anything else,’ Trump said of the Moscow project.

‘It was a concept of a deal someplace in Russia, probably in Moscow, and I was looking at places all over the world.’

When Stephanopoulos asked Trump if voters had the right to know that he was in talks to build a tower in Moscow, the president replied: ‘I wouldn’t mind telling them.’

Trump then brings up his financial statement, though it is unclear what it had to do with the Russia project.

Stephanopoulos then asks the president if he’s going to turn over the financial statements.

The president railed against the Mueller investigation, the media, and Democrats during his interview with Stephanopoulos (right)

Trump says: ‘No, at some point, I might, but at some point I hope they get it because it’s a fantastic financial statement. It’s a fantastic financial statement.’

At this point, the president gets visibly annoyed with Mulvaney, who is not seen on camera.

‘And let’s do that over, he’s coughing in the middle of my answer,’ Trump says.

‘I don’t like that, you know, I don’t like that.’

Stephanopoulos then identifies the cougher as ‘your chief of staff,’ which is Mulvaney.

‘If you’re going to cough, please leave the room,’ an agitated Trump tells Mulvaney.

‘You just can’t, you just can’t cough. Boy oh boy.’

Turning to Stephanopoulos, Trump says: ‘Okay, do you want to do that a little differently than uhh…’

The president then continues his answer.

OBAMA 'HAD TO KNOW ABOUT' EFFORTS TO UNDERMINE HIS PRESIDENCY

In his hour-long interview with Stephanopoulos, the president railed against the former special counsel, Robert Mueller, who led the two-year investigation into Russian election meddling.

He also suggested that his predecessor, Barack Obama, ‘had to know about’ alleged FBI efforts to undermine his presidency.

The Trump administration is looking into whether the Justice Department unlawfully surveilled members of the Trump campaign at the start of the federal investigation of alleged Russian meddling.

The president is alleging that Obama may have something to do with launching the initial investigation.

Trump said his predecessor, Barack Obama, 'had to know about' alleged attempts to undermine his presidency. Obama and Trump are seen in the Oval Office after the Republican's election victory in November 2016

‘You clearly believe there was a group of people working against you,’ Stephanopoulos asked.

‘Do you think President Obama was behind it?’

‘I would say that he certainly must have known about it because it went very high up in the chain,’ Trump replied.

‘But, you're gonna find that out. I'm not gonna make that statement quite yet.

‘But I would say that President Obama had to know about it.’

In April, Attorney General William Barr told Congress he would look into whether federal agencies illegally spied on Trump’s campaign, sparking criticism from Democrats who accused him of promoting a conspiracy theory.

Last month, it was learned that Barr is working with top intelligence officials and a senior federal prosecutor on at least the third inquiry to date into the origins of the Mueller probe.

Barr named US Attorney for Connecticut John Durham to examine whether the FBI erred in seeking a special federal court warrant to conduct surveillance on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, said the person.

In addition, Barr is personally working with FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to review intelligence gathering techniques used to investigate Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Amid a broad effort to discredit Mueller and the FBI, Trump and his allies have accused law enforcement officials of spying on his campaign and called for an investigation into the origins of the Mueller probe, which started at the FBI in mid-2016.

TRUMP SLAMS 'CONFLICTED' MUELLER FOR 'PHONY WITCH HUNT'

During the interview, Trump repeated his accusation that Mueller was ‘conflicted’ while claiming that the special counsel said ‘no collusion.’

‘I have a phony witch hunt, which is just a phony pile of stuff,’ Trump says of the Russia investigation.

‘Mueller comes out. There's no collusion.

‘And essentially a ruling that no obstruction.’

After Stephanopoulos pushed back, Trump said: ‘You know what, nobody even brings Russia up anymore.

During the interview, Trump accused former Special Counsel Robert Mueller (above) of being a 'never Trumper'

‘They talk about phase two but it’s a total phony deal.

‘If it weren’t, if I colluded with Russia, it wouldn’t bother me nearly as much.

‘What bothers me, is when you did nothing wrong and they have a phony witch hunt.’

Trump accused Mueller of being a ‘never Trumper’ - a term used to describe a group of Republicans who oppose the president.

‘What evidence do you have that he hates you?’ Stephanopoulos asked the president.

‘George, I know he hates me,’ Trump says.

‘And then he puts 18 people on [the investigative team] who are Democrats.’

‘Not all Democrats,’ Stephanopoulos says.

TRUMP SAYS HE'S NOT WORRIED ABOUT BEING PROSECUTED FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE

The president was asked by Stephanopoulos whether he worried about being prosecuted once he left office.

'Did nothing wrong, George,' Trump said. 'Did nothing wrong.

'There was no collusion. You don't even hear Russia mentioned anymore.'

Mueller, in his report, declined to exonerate the president on whether he obstructed justice.

Barr and Rod Rosenstein, the former deputy attorney general, later said they came to the conclusion there was no basis to indict the president for obstruction of justice.

'Obstruction of what? They built up a phony crime,' Trump said.

Trump denied claims made under oath by former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who testified that the president ordered him to fire Mueller

Trump also slammed Don McGahn, the former White House counsel who told Mueller's investigators that the president asked him to fire the special counsel.

McGahn protested and threatened to resign if Trump followed through on his threat.

But in his interview on Sunday, the president denied seeking to fire Mueller.

'I was never going to fire Mueller,' Trump said. 'I never suggested firing Mueller.'

When Stephanopoulos mentions that McGahn testified under oath to Mueller, the president says: 'I don't care what he says. It doesn't matter.

'That was to show everyone what a good counsel he was.

'Now, he may have gotten confused with the fact that I've always said, and I've said it to you, and I've said to anybody that would listen Robert Mueller was conflicted.'

McGahn, Trump said, 'wanted to make himself look like a good lawyer' by telling Mueller that the president wanted the special counsel fired.

Trump said he never considered firing Mueller.

'You know why?' the president said. 'Because I watched Richard Nixon go around firing everybody, and that didn't work out too well.'

Trump then said that Article II of the Constitution gives the president the legal right to fire the special counsel.

PRESIDENT VOWS TO RELEASE FINANCIAL STATEMENT 'AT SOME POINT'

The president also said that he believes 'at some point' his 'financial statement' will be released.

'They're after my financial statement - the Senate, they'd like to get my financial statement,' the president said.

'At some point I hope they get it.'

When asked if Trump has any plans to release his financial statement, he said: 'At some point, I might.

'It's a fantastic financial statement.'

During the interview, Trump predicted that Congress will 'at some point' get his 'financial statements'

Trump has refused to release his tax returns, making him the only president in office not to reveal his filings.

A group of U.S. Senate Democrats is urging the Federal Reserve to investigate Deutsche Bank AG’s relationship with Trump and his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

The lawmakers, led by Senators Chris Van Hollen and Sherrod Brown, the senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said news reports of potentially suspicious transactions at the bank involving Trump business entities merit further examination.

The New York Times reported on May 19 that anti-money laundering specialists at the bank were overruled by executives after recommending several transactions involving entities controlled by Trump or his family be reported to the government as suspicious.

The bank denied the report at the time, as did Trump in a tweet.

Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank has been a focal point for Democratic Party investigators in Congress, as the bank has served as a principle lender for Trump’s real estate business.

Democrats in the House have subpoenaed the bank for financial records involving Trump, his family and his businesses.

That investigatory effort is on hold while Trump’s lawyers challenge the subpoena in court.

TRUMP SLAMS 'FAKE, PHONY POLLING' AS DATA SHOWS HIM TRAILING JOE BIDEN IN KEY SWING STATES

President Trump says polls showing him trailing Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden in key swing states are 'fake' and 'phony.'

'We've gotten great poll numbers recently,' the president said. 'Tremendous poll numbers.'

Trump claimed that internal polling done for his campaign shows him 'winning everywhere.'

When Stephanopoulos asked Trump about recent reports of internal polling data commissioned by the president's campaign showing Biden ahead in key states, the president replied: 'Those polls don't exist.'

Trump said: 'Nobody showed you those polls because those polls don't exist, George.

'Those polls don't exist. I'm losing in 15 out of 17 states? Those polls don't exist.

'I just was given a meeting with my pollster who I frankly don't even believe in pollsters if you want to know the truth, you just run a campaign and whatever it is, it is, but I just had a meeting with somebody that's a pollster and I'm winning everywhere, so I don't know what you're talking about.'

Trump dismissed polls showing him trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in key swing states as 'fake' and 'phony'

Polling data commissioned by the Trump campaign reportedly shows him trailing Biden in Virginia by 17 points, Minnesota by 14 points, Maine by 15 points and in Michigan by 13 points

In Iowa, Trump was behind by 7 points, North Carolina 8 points and Ohio by 1 point. He had carried the three states during his 2016 election campaign

In Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida, Biden's 10-13 point leads fall outside margins of error

Despite Trump's comments, the president reportedly plans to fire his own pollsters after it was revealed he's trailing Biden in polls.

Further information obtained by NBC News showed the Republican leader fell short in 11 states in a March poll from his re-election campaign.

The news station reports that Trump believes his own campaign workers were behind the leak.

A source close to his re-election campaign didn't elaborate on who exactly they were cutting ties with.

Trump's pollsters found that between March 13 and March 28, the president trailed in Virginia by 17 points, Minnesota by 14 points, Maine by 15 points and in Michigan by 13 points.

It was noted that in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida, Biden's 10-13 point leads fall outside of the margins of error.

Trump found narrows leads against Hillary Clinton in those states during his election campaign played an important role in his ultimate victory.

In Iowa, Trump was behind by 7 points, North Carolina 8 points and Ohio by 1 point.

He had carried the three states during his 2016 election campaign.

Biden was up by six points in Georgia.

In Texas, Trump only had the lead by two points. The state has not seen a Democratic winner since 1976 when Jimmy Carter was president.