Trump counsel recused his entire staff from Mueller probe

White House counsel Don McGahn reportedly recused his entire office from participating in the Trump administration’s response to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation last summer amid concerns that his staff had been involved in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

Politico reports that Ty Cobb, who left President Trump’s legal team earlier this year, told an audience at a panel discussion at George Mason University in Northern Virginia that McGahn had solved the issue simply by recusing his entire office.

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Many of McGahn’s staff “had been significant participants” in Comey’s firing, Cobb said Wednesday, according to Politico.

“The White House made a decision to recuse his entire office,” he added.

McGahn reportedly angered the president earlier this year by not denying news reports that he threatened to resign when Trump ordered him to fire Mueller last year.

According to The New York Times, Trump confronted McGahn in his office in January, telling the attorney that he had not ordered him to fire the special counsel or impede the Russia investigation.

McGahn reportedly responded that the president was wrong and that he had indeed made the order. Trump responded that he did not remember the conversation that way, according to the Times.

The White House lawyer interviewed with Mueller’s office in December as part of the special counsel’s investigation into Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, including whether members of the Trump campaign had any ties to Moscow.