Trump reportedly tried to fire special counsel Robert Mueller in June

President Donald Trump demanded the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller in June, according to the New York Times, and backed down only when his White House counsel threatened to quit.

It was rumored at the time that Trump was considering firing Mueller, who continues to investigate his campaign’s ties to Russia and the president’s possible obstruction of justice. Now Michael Schmidt and Maggie Haberman confirm that the president, seething at the Russia investigation, actually ordered Mueller’s firing.

White House counsel Don McGahn, according to the Times, told White House officials Trump would not fire Mueller himself, and the president walked back his directive in the face of his White House counsel’s resistance.

Trump’s disdain for the Russia investigation is no secret, and reports and speculation over whether Trump would fire Mueller have swirled for months. The Times report suggests that Mueller has been in near-constant jeopardy: “Mr. Trump has wavered for months about whether he wants to fire Mr. Mueller, whose job security is an omnipresent concern among the president’s legal team and close aides.”

Based on the Times report, Trump was itching to fire Mueller not long after his investigation began in May following the firing of FBI Director James Comey, and just as the special counsel’s investigation began expanding to include a possible obstruction of justice case against the president.

Sources told the Times that Trump sought to justify his firing of Mueller by trying to root out potential conflicts of interest — including an allegation that Mueller dropped his membership at Trump’s golf course in Virginia in 2011 because of a dustup over fees:

First, he claimed that a dispute years ago over fees at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., had prompted Mr. Mueller, the F.B.I. director at the time, to resign his membership. The president also said Mr. Mueller could not be impartial because he had most recently worked for the law firm that previously represented the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Finally, the president said, Mr. Mueller had been interviewed to return as the F.B.I. director the day before he was appointed special counsel in May.

Ty Cobb, the lead White House attorney working on the Russia probe, declined to comment to the Times about Trump’s attempts to fire Mueller.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via