President Donald Trump on Thursday returned to battering The New York Times and denied the newspapers’ reports that the President moved to fire special counsel Robert Mueller in December after he reportedly started digging into Trump’s finances.
“If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him,” he tweeted early Thursday. “Just more Fake News from a biased newspaper!”
If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him. Just more Fake News from a biased newspaper!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2018
The Times reported on Tuesday that Trump told his advisers in December that he wanted to shut down Mueller’s probe after his team subpoenaed Deutshe Bank for records on Trump. The President reportedly backed down after his lawyers spoke with Mueller’s team and learned that the reports of the subpoenas were inaccurate. Trump also reportedly tried to fire Mueller in June 2017, but cooled off after White House lawyer Don McGahn threatened to quit.
While Trump’s tweet appears to deny reports that he wanted to fire Mueller last year, the President publicly mulled firing the special counsel after the FBI raided his personal attorney’s office, home and hotel earlier this week.
During a meeting with top military brass and members of his national security team, Trump told reporters that the raid was “an attack on our country” and said “many people have said you should fire him,” in response to questions about whether he would fire Mueller.
