Mueller seeks White House documents on Trump's dismissals of Comey and Flynn

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WASHINGTON – Russia special counsel Robert Mueller has sent the White House a flurry of document requests, requesting information relating to President Trump's dismissals of FBI Director James Comey and national security adviser Michael Flynn, according to officials familiar with the matter.

The officials, speaking under condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to comment publicly, said Wednesday that the White House has been cooperating with Mueller's requests for the past several weeks, in part to avoid subpoenas for individual testimony. The officials said they were not sure when the White House would finish turning over documents.

More: Special counsel Robert Mueller has long list of potential White House witnesses in Russia probe

The special counsel's requests were first reported by the New York Times.

Mueller has been investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice. His interest in Trump's decisions, especially when it comes to Comey's firing, appear to indicate the special counsel's is increasing his focus on the matter. A spokesman for Mueller's team declined to comment Wednesday.

Trump has repeatedly denied any effort to obstruct the FBI investigation. But he acknowledged in an interview with NBC News just days after Comey's dismissal that wanted Comey to leave because of his handling the Russia inquiry.

Explaining his decision then, Trump told the network: "I said to myself... You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won."

Trump fired Flynn, meanwhile, in February after it revelations he lied to administration officials – including Vice President Pence – about his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak prior to the inauguration.

Since then, Flynn's financial connections to foreign governments have come under scrutiny by Mueller's team and multiple congressional investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with Trump associates.

Mueller's White House inquiries come as Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort grappled with new disclosures Wednesday about his offers to provide briefings on the campaign to a Russian billionaire close to the Kremlin.

The contacts with Oleg Deriposka, a former Manafort business associate, occurred just before Trump's formal nomination last summer while Manafort was managing Trump's bid for the White House.

The development was first reported by The Washington Post.

Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni told USA TODAY Wednesday that Manafort's contacts were “innocuous.”

"It is no secret Mr. Manafort was owed money by past clients after his work ended in 2014,'' Maloni said. "This exchange is innocuous.”

The disclosures about Manafort's outreach to Deriposka are part of a barrage of potentially damaging revelations involving Trump's former campaign chief.

CNN reported Monday that Manafort had been the target of FBI wiretaps both before and after he ran Trump’s presidential campaign. The network reported that the eavesdropping was authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits the government to secretly wiretap Americans if it can persuade a judge that they are agents of a foreign power.

Maloni said if that report is true, the Justice Department’s Inspector General should open an investigation into the leak of a FISA warrant, which is a felony.

Maloni also said the IG should “examine the motivations behind a previous administration’s effort to surveil a political opponent.

More: FBI searches home of Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign chairman