Special counsel Robert Mueller has asked the White House to turn over documents related to some of President Trump’s most controversial actions in office, including his dismissal of former FBI Director James Comey, The New York Times reports.
Citing White House officials, the Times reported that Mueller is also interested in the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as well as an Oval Office meeting with Russian officials during which Trump reportedly said the Comey firing relieved “great pressure” on him.
Mueller has also requested documents related to the White House response to media questions about a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian government lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton.
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The document requests are the clearest indication yet that at least some aspects of Mueller’s probe are focused on the president’s behavior in office. The special counsel has broadly been examining Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Mueller’s office reportedly sent a document detailing 13 different areas that his investigators want to know more about, and administration lawyers have since been hunting through White House emails and asking whether officials have any other documents related to the request.
The lawyer handling the matter for the president, Ty Cobb, told Mueller’s office that he will turn over many of the documents this week, according to the Times.
The special counsel has asked for any and all documents relating to former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, a key subject of the probe, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Agents raided Manafort’s home in Virginia last month, taking information on his finances.
Mueller’s team has also requested details surrounding meetings then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates had with White House Counsel Don McGahn in January when she expressed her concerns about Flynn, as well as documents relating to Flynn’s firing, according to the Post.
In the case of Comey, the special counsel has requested all documents related to meetings Trump had with Comey while he served as FBI chief, as well as the subsequent statement then-press secretary Sean Spicer made the night of Comey’s firing, the Post reported.
Trump raised eyebrows in May when he abruptly fired Comey, a decision he told NBC’s Lester Holt was related to the Russia investigation. Comey was leading the probe before he was fired, and the firestorm over his dismissal eventually led to the appointment of Mueller as special counsel.
Critics have argued that the move to dismiss the FBI chief was an attempt to obstruct justice. Comey, in later testimony before Senate investigators, claimed that the president had repeatedly entreated him to “let go” of the investigation into Flynn before the FBI chief was fired.
The president also faced criticism for the delay in dismissing Flynn earlier this year after receiving warnings that the former intelligence officer had misled the public — and Vice President Pence — about the nature of a December phone call with the Russian ambassador.
– Olivia Beavers contributed
Updated: 4:36 p.m.