Trump tried to 'influence' the Mueller investigation. He failed because his associates wouldn't 'carry out orders,' Mueller says.

President Trump did try to "influence" the Russia probe, Special Counsel Robert Mueller said in his report released Thursday. Yet Trump was "mostly unsuccessful," and that failure can largely be credited to some of his top officials' refusal to "carry out orders," Mueller continued.

In the report, Mueller's team mentioned that Trump tried to get former FBI Director James Comey to drop his investigation into Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. But Comey refused, leading to "Flynn's prosecution and conviction for lying to the FBI," Mueller's report says.

Trump told then-White House Counsel Don McGahn to relay a message to have Mueller fired as special counsel, but McGahn "prepared to resign" instead of doing so, the report continued. Even Rick Dearborn and Corey Lewandowski, Trump's transition and campaign staffers turned White House officials, didn't tell Attorney General Jeff Sessions to "confine the Russia investigation to future election meddling only," the report finished.

Article continues below

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Read the whole report here.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.