The Times reported that Trump in June ordered Mueller fired after seeing news reports that the special counsel was investigating him for potential obstruction of justice, and backed off only after White House Counsel Don McGahn threatened to resign in protest. The Washington Post later confirmed the account, and Fox News reported high-level White House staff believed Trump was about to fire Mueller and talked him out of it.



Trump pushed back against the report the next day, without addressing the specific allegation, as he arrived Friday at the site of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.