Trump dismisses reports he tried to fire Robert Mueller, calls it 'fake news'

President Trump and aides found themselves grappling Friday with yet another damaging report on the Russia investigation: He talked about dismissing Special Counsel Robert Mueller in June, just a month after his appointment.

While critics said the report is more evidence that Trump tried to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation, Trump dismissed the allegations.

"Fake news, folks. Fake news. Typical New York Times fake stories,” Trump told reporters before delivering a major speech to world and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The New York Times reported Trump ordered Mueller's firing in June, "but ultimately backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than carry out the directive."

The idea of firing Mueller was on the table back in June, two people familiar with the incident told USA TODAY. Trump opted not to fire Mueller in the face of objections from his lawyers. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, said they did not know if Trump issued a specific order or if White House Counsel Donald McGahn threatened to quit over it.

The revelations emerged as the Mueller and Trump teams negotiate possible testimony for the president in the weeks ahead.

Trump was upset about what he regarded as Mueller's conflicts of interest, including the fact that the president interviewed Mueller for the FBI director's job after he fired James Comey. Officials said Trump also cited Mueller's leaving a Trump golf club over a fee dispute, and alleged political work by Mueller associates.

McGahn and others convinced Trump that firing Mueller would be a bad idea and eventually Trump pledged to work with the special counsel's office. Officials also said Trump was well aware of the political fallout from a dismissal of the special counsel.

But there is little doubt, they said, that Trump discussed possibly firing Mueller with his friends, officials said.

Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media and a friend of Trump, told the PBS NewsHour in June about Trump: "I think he’s considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. I think he’s weighing that option ... I personally think it would be a very significant mistake."

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On Friday, Ruddy said he doesn't know about Trump's interaction with his legal team, but "I stand by my comments to PBS: He was seriously considering at the time."

Congressional Democrats raised obstruction of justice claims against Trump, and said lawmakers should rebuke his actions.

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said firing Mueller would "a red line" that Trump cannot be allowed to cross.

"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.

White House attorney Ty Cobb declined to comment on the revelations "out of respect for the Office of the Special Counsel and its process."

Mueller's office is investigating Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election on Trump's behalf, as well as whether the president sought to obstruct justice with the firing of FBI Director Comey.

Mueller's inquiry appears to be gaining steam. It has also produced guilty pleas and pledges of cooperation from ex-campaign adviser George Papadopoulos and former national security adviser Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI.

In recent months, Trump has said he is cooperating with Mueller's office, and predicted eventual exoneration.

In a November interview with The New York Times, Trump said: "I think that Bob Mueller will be fair, and everybody knows that there was no collusion."

— Amid the first wave of news media reports that Mueller was examining a possible obstruction case, the president began to argue that Mueller had at least three conflicts of interest that disqualified him from overseeing the investigation.

— First, he claimed that a dispute years ago over fees at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., had prompted Mueller, the F.B.I. director at the time, to resign his membership. The president also said Mueller could not be impartial because he had most recently worked for the law firm that previously represented the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Finally, the president said, Mueller had been interviewed to return as the FBI director the day before he was appointed special counsel in May.

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Mueller is spearheading the probe into whether Trump obstructed federal investigators during the Russia inquiry.

Congressional investigators are heading into 2018 with no immediate end in sight to their probes into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. White House special counsel Ty Cobb has expressed optimism that Mueller's investigation is winding down, indicating earlier this month that all interviews that investigators requested of White House staffers have been completed.

Yet some analysts cautioned that there are no obvious signs of a finish line in sight.