Trump calls report that he ordered Mueller fired 'fake news'

President Donald Trump declared Friday that a New York Times report that he wanted to fire special counselor Robert Mueller early last summer was “fake news.”

The Times and other news organizations reported Thursday night that Trump had sought to fire Mueller over set of perceived conflicts of interests, including a years-old dispute over membership fees that prompted Mueller to quit a Trump golf club in Virginia and the fact that he had been interviewed for the vacant job of FBI director one day before being appointed special counselor. Trump reportedly backed off his wish that Mueller be fired when White House counsel Don McGahn threatened to resign rather than carry out the president’s demand.


"Fake news. Fake news. Typical New York Times. Fake stories,” Trump said Friday as he arrived at the World Economic Forum’s conference hall in Davos, Switzerland. He did not elaborate further or refute any of the story’s specific reporting.

The president has complained often about the Times, one of the media outlets he claims most often covers him inaccurately or unfairly, along with CNN and NBC News, among others.

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"Well, clearly The New York Times is stirring up these months' old Russian conspiracy stories and quite frankly, you know, I have not spoken to the president about it," White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp told Fox News's "Fox & Friends" Friday morning. "The reality is, is that the president and this White House has been cooperative with the special counsel. And as we continue to see, there’s no evidence of collusion. There’s no evidence of wrong doing. The white house turned over 20,000 records to the special counsel. Again, we want an expedited end to this investigation. As we’ve seen thus far, there’s no evidence of collusion or wrongdoing."