US

Mueller Spokesman Knocks Down Major Claim In Michael Wolff’s New Book

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
Font Size:

The special counsel’s office is flatly denying author Michael Wolff’s claim in his new book that Robert Mueller drew up a draft indictment against President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice.

Wolff claims in “Siege: Trump Under Fire,” which will be released in June, that prosecutors drew up an indictment with three obstruction charges against Trump. The document sat on Mueller’s desk for the better part of a year and was the subject of heated debate within the special counsel’s office, Wolff claims, according to The Guardian.

Wolff claims he obtained the documents from “sources close to the Office of the Special Counsel.”

If true, it would be the strongest evidence so far that Mueller seriously considered charging Trump with obstruction of justice. Prosecutors ultimately deferred a decision on the obstruction question to Attorney General William Barr, who declined to pursue a case against Trump.

But there’s a major problem with Wolff’s allegation.

“The documents that you have described do not exist,” Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel, told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a rare on-the-record statement.

This is not the first Wolff book to face problems with accuracy.

FBI Director Robert Mueller speaks during a news conference at the FBI headquarters June 25, 2008 in Washington, DC. The news conference was to mark the 5th anniversary of Innocence Lost initiative. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Wolff was forced to retract a claim in “Fire and Fury” that Trump had an affair in office with an unnamed administration official. Wolff walked off the set of an interview with an Australian television station when pressed about the claim.

A Daily Caller analysis of “Fire and Fury” found numerous other errors. Several subjects of the book denied giving quotes that Wolff attributed to them. (RELATED: The Errors Found In Wolff’s Book, So Far…)

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair also vehemently denied Wolff’s claim that he told Jared Kushner that British intelligence had worked with the Obama administration to spy on the Trump campaign. Wolff claimed he witnessed a conversation between Kushner and Blair, and that Blair was angling for a job in the Trump administration.

Blair called the claim a “complete fabrication.”

Follow Chuck on Twitter

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.