Trump’s personal lawyer called McGahn’s lawyer after the meeting and said that the president was “fine” with McGahn. “Instead of relying on his personal counsel to submit the conflicts claims, the President sought to use his official powers to remove the Special Counsel. On May 10, according to news reports and not disputed by the White House, Trump told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office: “I just fired the head of the F.B.I. “Evidence does establish that the President connected the Flynn investigation to the FBI’s broader Russia investigation and that he believed, as he told [New Jersey Gov. In addition, after firing Comey, Trump also told the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, “I just fired the head of the F.B.I. Analyzing this conduct through the lens of criminal obstruction, Mueller’s team writes that substantial evidence corroborated Comey’s account of Trump telling him to let the Flynn investigation go, and that they were able to establish that Trump connected the Flynn investigation to the FBI’s broader Russia investigation.

McGahn said he replied that he keeps notes because he’s a “real lawyer,” the report says. The third area of possible obstruction that Mueller investigated is President Trump’s reaction to the continuing Russia investigation in March and April 2017. But Trump advisers told him that those did not count as conflicts, and the Justice Department also said that Mueller’s previous legal work would not prevent him from acting as special counsel. Mueller then examines Trump’s efforts from the summer of 2017 to 2018 to have Sessions take over control of the Mueller investigation. Honestly, I wish I had that power. McFarland, to “draft an internal email that would confirm that the President did not direct Flynn to call the Russian Ambassador about sanctions.”, “MacFarland told Priebus she did not know whether the President had directed Flynn to talk to [the Russian ambassador] about sanctions, and she declined to say yes or no to the request.”.

According to Porter, Trump directed Porter to “create a record” internally that Trump had not told him to fire Mueller, saying, “If he doesn’t write a letter, then maybe I’ll have to fire him.” After McGahn refused, Trump then met with him and told him to “correct” the story. I can’t do anything.” Hunt said Sessions suggested Trump think about removing Comey.

He also wanted Sessions to investigate Hillary Clinton.

According to the report, Trump’s personal counsel called the attorney for White House counsel McGahn and relayed that Trump wanted McGahn to put out a statement denying a New York Times story that Trump had asked him to fire the special counsel. Trump also consulted Christie about having Mueller fired, and Christie, the report says, advised him against it. “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. When Trump learned that the New York Times was writing a story on the emails in July 2017, he directed Hicks not to respond to the paper’s inquiries—a directive Hicks found strange, because the president usually considered being unresponsive to the press to be the “ultimate sin.” After Trump directed Hicks to tell the press that the meeting had been about adoptions, she workshopped a statement with Trump Jr. on his behalf. Trump’s reaction to the appointment, according to the report, was to say, “This is the end of my Presidency.” He also became angry with Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation. By our count, there are eight states that specifically allow for early voters to change their votes. She was formerly a national security intern in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. The Mueller report says there’s some evidence Trump felt the investigation was hurting his ability to get things done, particularly with Russia. But our POTUS . On June 15, 2018, after Manafort’s bail was revoked, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, floated the possibility of a pardon in media interviews. The report also said Trump once dressed down McGahn for his note-taking practice. Only after making this decision did Trump discuss his intent with Justice Department officials and have Sessions and Rosenstein provide separate memoranda justifying Comey’s firing on other grounds. Mueller whacks Trump with evidence of obstruction, Biden close to winning after taking leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia, An annotated guide to the redacted Mueller report, Dems blast Barr’s ‘campaign press conference’ for Trump, 'I'm f---ed': Trump called Mueller appointment 'the end of my presidency', Graham says Biden ‘deserves’ a Cabinet if he wins, ‘My sense is that we lost’: Trump campaign aides grapple with dwindling odds, GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw to Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘Start acting’ like a member of Congress, GOP begins pushing back against Trump’s false election claims, Biden to deliver prime-time address with victory in sight.