Trump just said 'nobody disobeys my orders.' Here are 7 times they seemingly did.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, released with redactions on Thursday, showed that President Trump's staffers don't always listen to his demands.
So on Monday, CNN's Kaitlin Collins asked Trump about that revelation. "Nobody disobeys my orders," he tersely and falsely claimed before walking away. As a recap, here are seven — or possibly more — officials who proved him wrong.
1. Former White House Counsel Don McGahn. Per Mueller's report, McGahn was "prepared to resign" over Trump's insistence that he have Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein oust Mueller.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
2-3. Rick Dearborn and Corey Lewandowski. Trump asked these two officials to tell then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to "confine the Russia investigation to future election meddling only," Mueller's reporting shows. They didn't listen.
4. Ex-FBI Director James Comey. Trump told Comey to drop his 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.
5. Jeff Sessions. Trump tried to get his ex-attorney general to "unrecuse" himself from the Mueller probe, the report showed. Not that it's even clear if unrecusal is a thing.
6. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. She was ousted after saying she wouldn't try to reinstate a family separation policy, and for refusing to illegally close the border, per an NBC News report.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
7. Some anonymous senior official — or a few. Remember the whole New York Times op-ed that detailed a legion of Trump officials working to disrupt his agenda every day? It's unclear who wrote it, or just how many officials are in this so-called resistance, though some speculate Nielsen was behind it all.
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.
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations



