President Donald Trump pushed back against a New York Times report that he attempted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller in December, in a Thursday morning tweet.
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 NYT report alleged that Trump was incensed by false December reports that Mueller had subpoenaed his personal financial records from Deutsche Bank. “To Mr. Trump, the subpoenas suggested that Mr. Mueller had expanded the investigation in a way that crossed the “red line” he had set last year,” the report noted.
Trump however pushed back saying he would have fired Mueller if he wanted too. The President has been incensed with Mueller since reports of an FBI raid on his personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s office Monday. The raid was spawned by a referral from Mueller’s office to the U.S. attorney of the southern district of New York.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday the President believes he has the authority to fire Mueller if he desires.