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Trump dismisses multiple reports claiming he tried to fire Mueller: "Fake news"

"Fake news, folks, fake news."
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Donald Trump Friday dismissed multiple corroborating reports that he ordered the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller last June, calling them “fake news.”

"Fake news, folks, fake news. Typical New York Times fake stories,” Trump told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he was making a scripted speech promoting investment in the U.S.

The original New York Times scoop reported Trump ordered White House counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller but McGahn refused to relay the message to the Department of Justice, and threatened to quit if compelled to do so.

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McGahn believed the decision would ruin Trump’s presidency, the report states.

The Times story, based on four sources, was subsequently confirmed by the Washington Post, CNN, NBC, and Politico.

Trump’s beloved Fox News also confirmed the president “told top officials this past June that he wanted to fire” Mueller but “was talked out of doing so” by McGahn and “other aides.”

White House counsel Ty Cobb said: “We decline to comment out of respect for the Office of the Special Counsel and its process.”

The White House has repeatedly said Trump has never considered firing Mueller. Kellyanne Conway in an August interview with ABC insisted the “president has not even discussed” that possibility.

Uncomfortably addressing the revelation on his Thursday show, Fox News host and Trump whisperer Sean Hannity dismissed the report, telling his audience the paper “is trying to distract you.”

Having “checked in” with his White House sources, Hannity said the report had no merit, only to reverse that position minutes later.

“So we have sources tonight just confirming to Ed Henry that yeah, maybe, Donald Trump wanted to fire the special counsel for a conflict,” Hannity said. “Does he not have the right to raise those questions?”

“We’ll deal with this tomorrow night,” he continued, before appropriately rushing to a segment about a car crash.

Cover image: Donald Trump gestures as he arrives on Day 3 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)