President Donald Trump on Friday called a new report that he sought to fire special counsel Robert Mueller from the Russia investigation last summer "fake news."
"Fake news, folks. Fake news," he told reporters while walking by them in Davos, Switzerland. "Typical New York Times. Fake stories."
The New York Times reported Thursday night that Trump ordered Mueller to be dismissed but then backed off that decision when the White House counsel threatened to quit rather than carry out the order:
The West Wing confrontation marks the first time Mr. Trump is known to have tried to fire the special counsel. Mr. Mueller learned about the episode in recent months as his investigators interviewed current and former senior White House officials in his inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice.
Amid the first wave of news media reports that Mr. Mueller was examining a possible obstruction case, the president began to argue that Mr. Mueller had three conflicts of interest that disqualified him from overseeing the investigation, two of the people said.
According to the report White House counsel Donald McGahn refused to ask the Department of Justice to fire Mueller and threatened to resign.
White House lawyer Ty Cobb said in a statement, "We decline to comment out of respect for the Office of the Special Counsel and its process."