President Trump has not held any internal discussions about removing special counsel Robert Mueller despite his increasingly public frustration with the duration and scope of Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian collusion, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Monday.
“There are no conversations or discussions about removing Mr. Mueller,” Gidley told reporters traveling with the president aboard Air Force One.
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Trump sent a series of tweets over the weekend that cited Mueller by name for the first time since he became special counsel, and accused the former FBI director of stacking his investigative team with Democrats. Several officials hired by Mueller have donated to Democratic candidates in the past, although Mueller himself is a Republican.
Gidley suggested Trump may be frustrated because for “more than a year, this has been going on,” but repeated the denial Trump’s lawyer issued on Sunday evening amid speculation that the president had considered removing the special counsel.
The White House also denied that Trump had a hand in the termination of Andrew McCabe, former FBI deputy director, which became official Friday evening. The inspector general, an Obama administration appointee, had recommended McCabe’s firing due to allegations that McCabe lied during an internal investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
“The IG report recommended that Mr. McCabe be dismissed,” Gidley said, referring to the watchdog’s forthcoming report. “The decision was clearly made by Attorney General [Jeff] Sessions.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized McCabe’s conduct during the 2016 election, including his refusal to step back from the Clinton probe despite the campaign contributions his wife, then running for a seat in the Virginia state legislature, collected from a Clinton political ally.
McCabe has denied misleading investigators and has blamed Trump for exacerbating the political firestorm that preceded his termination last week.
