mr. mcgahn also told white house officials that mr. trump would not follow through on the dismissal on his own. the president then backed off. we want to remind you now of what the president said when he was asked about mueller back in august. >> mr. president, have you thought about, considered leading the dismissal of the special counsel? is there anything bob mueller could do that would send you in that direction? >> i haven't given it any thought. i've been reading about it from you people. i'm not dismissing anybody. >> tonight's reporting one day after the president expressed his willingness bordering on eagerness to speak to the special counsel. here was the president just last night. >> are you going to talk to mueller? >> i'm looking forward to it. i would do it under oath, absolutely. >> do you think robert mueller will be fair to you in this larger investigation? >> we're going to find out. >> are you concerned? >> here's what we'll say and everybody says, no collusion. there's no collusion. now there's saying, oh, well, did

mcgahn told white house officials mr. trump would not follow through on the dismissal on his own. and he didn't. he told somebody else to fire mueller. the guy said no, i'm not doing it and apparently he told other people at the white house, watch, don't worry, he's not going to do it himself. and you know what? the president we know knows how to use a phone. if he did want to fire the special counsel, there is no reason that he couldn't have just called the doj himself, right? at least i think. we can check that out. this is a remarkable report that the president gave the order for his white house counsel to fire the special counsel but the white house counsel said no and then there is this one other little nugget right at the end of the piece, quote, another option that mr. trump considered in discussions with advisors was dismissing the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein and elevating the number three official to oversee mr. mueller. again, that is something the president would likely have had to do that very day or night if this order had been done. if he told him to fire

mr. mcgahn did the right thing and to the president's credit, he listened.something for mueller to look at. i see no evidence that he wants to fire mueller now. i don't know what happened last year. but it's pretty clear to me that everybody in the white house knows it would be the end of president trump's presidency if he fired mr. mueller. so i think we're if there a good spot with mr. mueller. >> and yet there is legislation being talked about to make sure the president doesn't fire mueller. so the fact that there is still a question about whether trump might still fire mueller, does that surprise you? >> i don't think it's a surprise because there may be collision ace tlaed are a lot worse than what president trump has faced so far. what if mueller asked for his tax returns? it goes down the trail of bringing him in and putting him in front of a grand jury and starts talking about his monetary past? because president trump said he is going to draw a red line there. i think there could be future collisions. but let me go back to yes, this white house did

mr. mcgahn asked me how he did and i declined to give him an answer to that. mr. mcgahn called me back the next morning. one of the questions he asked me when i went back over the second day was why does it matter to doj if one white house official lies to another white house official. >> okay. so as you just heard, mcgahn called yates back to the white house the next day, january 27th, with further questions about flynn. that was a morning meeting. they're talking in the morning. that very same day, around lunchtime so shortly after yates and mcgahn wraup up talking the president out of nowhere invites comey over to the white house for din ker according to comey. >> he called me at my desk at lunchtime and asked me was i free for dinner that night. and called himself and said can you come over for dinner tonight. i said yes, sir. >> that evening, january 27th, president trump and comey have dinner at the white house. that is when comey says trump asked for his loyalty. february 13th, president trump fires flynn on the same day "the washington post" reports the whi

mr. mcgahn's deputies to mislead the president about his authority to fire the fbi director. this is quite remarkable. the lawyer, somebody named dillon, don't know how you pronounce the first name, u-t-t-i-m, a deputy to don mcgahn in the white house counsel's office was convinced if comey was fired, it could be imperilled because it would force the justice department to open an investigation. long-standing analysis of presidential power says the president does not need grounds to fire the fbi director, mr. dillon is a veteran lawyer and had been so before joining the trump white house and assigned a junior lawyer to examine this issue. they determined the fbi director was no different than any employee. there was nothing prohibiting the president from hiring him but mr. dillon who had earlier told mr. trump he needed cause to fire mr. comey never corrected the record with holding the conclusions. again, just remarkable in this reporting from michael schmidt tonight. he said there is somebody that worked and potentially still works in the white house office who intentionally

mr. mcgahn also told white house officials that mr. trump would not follow through on the dismissal on his own. the president then backed off. you wonder if maybe devin nunes, let's say, trey gowdy, should pay attention here. does it seem that for trump to do this he needs an accomplice to push him in that direction? that's sort of the message that we're getting from this. >> yeah, i would imagine. and what would the republican reaction to this be on the hill? i'm not sure today. again, in july, we had a cascade of quotes on the record and off the record saying this would be a very bad move, put us in a very bad position. >> and supporting robert mueller. this is a guy who had impeccable credentials at the beginning of this. now suddenly, he's not such a great guy. >> as i recall, lindsey graham w flirting with a legislative remedy saying donald trump cannot act on this without certain parameters. would he say that today? i don't think so. quite a bit of the republican base has come to the conclusion that there is something inappropria

mr. mcgahn failed to persuade attorney general jeff sessions is not to recuse himself from the inquiry, mrmp dmand that he needed someone loyal to oversee the justice department. and our panel is here. jackie, walk us through at least your view of the modern history of donald trump on the subject of loyalty. >> well, he's a man who literally grew up with expectations of loyalty to family. it's almost like the corleones. he's grown up in family business, and he's been in family businesses his entire career. his children now work for him. he's never had to answer to a board of directors, so he's used to just having sycophants and loyalists around him at all times. he seems to expect this of everyone in his own cabinet, including the attorney general who has a role to be very independent of the president, but he expects it of members of congress of his party, too, and treats them not as an independent branch of government but as an arm of his presidency. and so it's just affected -- he doesn't operate in any other way. >> eugene, as you may know, my fe theory of life is that all theories come

mr. mcgahn failed to persuade attorney general jeff sessions not to recuse himself from the inquiry, mr. trump complained that he needed someone loyal to oversee the justice department. >>> here to talk about it with us tonight, eugene robinson, pulitzer prize winning columnist for the washington post and an msnbc political analyst. jackie calms is with us, white house editor for the los angeles times. and matthew miller is with us, msnbc justice and security analyst and former chief spokesman over at the department of justice. jackie, walk us through at least your view of the modern history of donald trump on the subject of loyalty. >> well, he's a man who literally grew up with expectations of loyalty to family. it's almost like the core ali owns. he grows up in the family business and he's been in family business his entire career. and his children now work for him. he's never had to answer to a board of directors. and so he's used to just having sicafans and loyalists around him tault. as president comes in and seems to expect the same of not only everyone in his cabinet including th

mr. mcgahn was unsuccessful and president erupted in anger saying he needed his attorney general to protect him. it goes on, mr. trump said he had expected his top law enforcement official to safe guard him the way he believed robert f kennedy as attorney general had done for his brother john f. kennedy and how eric h holder junior had for barack obama. mr. trump asked where is my roy moore? the president is referring to this personal lawyer also top aide through the 1950s aids against communism. cohn was known a tough courtroom battler. now, with me is julie. there is a lot in this "new york times" times piece. a sides from what we just reported, this attempt to stop sessions from recusing himself, you also learned that they were, sessions, via this congressional aide, trying get dirt on the then fbi director jim comey. tell me about that. >> reporter: right. well, this was in the days before comey was fired, but what's clear from this reporting is that the president definitely wanted comey gone. everyone around him or many people around him knew that. and they were trying to set about to

mr. mcgahn was unsuccessful and the president erupted in anger in front of numerous white house officials, saying he needed his attorney general to protect him." mr. trump said he expected his top law enforcement official to safeguard him in the way he believed john f. kennedy has attorney general has done for his brother john f. kennedy. and eric holder had done for barack obama. you might remember last week president trump sat down for an inter view with michael schmidt while vacationing in mar-a-lago. he made similar comments about holder and obama. "i will say this, holder protected president obama, totally protected him. when you look at all of the tremendous real problems they had, not made up problems like russian collusion, these were real problems. when you look at the things they did and holder protected the president, and i have great respect for that." "the new york times" also reports tonight that mueller has corroborated fbi director james comey's claims that he felt pressured to drop the russia investigation. and then there's this shocking detail. quote, the president's det

mr. mcgahn asked me was essentially why does it matter to dodge if one white house official lies to another house official. >> reporter: when the president fired fbi director james comey, mcgahn reportedly pushed trump to make sure he cited concerns about comey's competent. backed up by other government officials. >> he's a showboat. he's a grand-stander. >> reporter: an attempt perhaps to make it appear the dismissal was not purely about the russia probe, which comey led. >> the russians interfered in our election. >> reporter: and when the president wanted attorney general jeff sessions to hold the reins of the russia investigation and not recuse himself -- >> which frankly i think is very unfair to the president. >> reporter: whom did he reportedly send to change session's mind? he failed. but "the new york times" says, again, it was don mcgahn. important to note in all of this, mcgahn and several members of his legal team have reportedly been questions as part of the russia probe. tom foreman, cnn, washington. >> all right, i want to bring in our cnn national security analyst and a fore

mr. mcgahn asked me was essentially why does it matter to d.o.j. official lies to another white house official. >> when the president fired fbi director james comey, mcgahn reportedly pushed trump to make sure he cited concerns about comey's competence, backed up by other government officials. >> he's a showboat, a grandstander. >> reporter: an statement to make it appear it was not just about the fbi's russia probe, which comey led. >> the russians interfered in our election. >> and when the president wanted tong jeff sessi attorney general jeff sessions to hold the reins of the investigation and not recuse himself -- >> frankly, it's very unfair to the president. >> whom did he send to change sessions' mind? he failed but again it was don mcgahn. important to note, mcgahn himself, along with more than a half dozen members of his white house legal team, have reportedly been questioned as part of the russia investigation. jake? >> my political panel joins me now. thank you so much to tom foreman. mcgahn has obviously been a hatchet man in some inst

mr. mcgahn made it clear at least through intermediaries he's not prepared to do that. >> is that something you should be making clear directly to the president. >> i don't know enough about the circumstances to say. the times reporting is accurate, then his message was received. >> quickly, john? >> it's stressing how much of a credibility crisis the white house has. you have donald trump saying it's all fake news, what we don't have is a statement from don mcgann denying the new york times report, when my story came out, trump said it was all fake news, the fbi and the justice department had the full text of my report. they knew the reporting, and they did not dispute one fact. >> and ty kolb his personal attorney. his only comment was, that he would not comment because out of respect for the process of special council investigation. that's hardly a denial. >> it's absurd. you have the fwrez saying it's fake news and no one else in the white house denying it. that's insane. >> and it tells you a lot. >> it would be highly unlikely the white house council would be heard on this subject pub

mr. mcgahn asked me was essentially, why does it matter to doj if one white house official lies to another white house official. >> when the president fired fbi director james comey, mcgahn reportedly pushed trump to make sure he cited concerns about comey's competence. backed up by other government officials. >> he's a showboat. he's a grandstander. >> an attempt, perhaps, to make it appear the dismissal was not purely about the fbi's russia probe, which comey led. >> the russians interfered in our election. >> when the president wanted attorney general jeff sessions to hold the reins of the russia investigation and not recuse himself -- >> which frankly, i think is very unfair to the president. >> whom did he reportedly send to change sessions' mind? he failed, but "the new york times" says again, it was don mcgahn. important to note in all of this, mcgahn and several members of his legal team have reportedly been questioned as part of the russia probe. tom foreman, cnn, washington. >> joining us now is the former director of the office of government ethics, walter schaub. he stepped dow

mr. mcgahn did the right thing and to the president's credit, he listened. this is something more mueller to look at. >> you heard the president saying last august when asked directly about whether he had considered firing mr. mueller, he hadn't given it a thought. so -- if this reporting is true, then the president was lying to the american people? >> this is for mr. mueller to determine. we're not going to stop looking at the president because he claims "the new york times' fake news. we're not going to convict him based on a news article. as a matter of fact, i think mr. mueller is the perfect guy to get to the bottom of this. i have legislation protecting mr. mueller. i'll be glad to pass it tomorrow. i see no evidence that president trump wants to fire mr. mueller now. i don't know what went on last year. i think it's clear that everyone in the white house knows it would be the end of the president's presidency if he fired mr. mueller. so i think we're in a good spot with mr. mueller. >> you're talking about the bill you brought forward in august. will

mr. mcgahn asked me how he did. and i declined to give him an answer to that. the russians also knew about what general flynn had done and the russians also knew that general flynn had misled the vice president and others. that created a compromised situation, a situation where the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. >> two days after her conversation with mcgahn, yates was fired after publicly defying the president's travel ban. flynn on the other hand lasted another three weeks at the white house, forced to resign only after the sbant substance of his calls with the russian ambassador was revealed in the press. last month flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and now cooperating with the russia investigation. we know that last year, after yates told the white house counsel about flynn, mcgahn then passed that information on to a small group of senior white house officials. reince priebus, chief strategist steve bannon and the president himself. robert mueller wants to talk to them all. nbc news reported today sally y

mr. mcgahn purposefully misled the president about whether the president could fire fbi director comey without cause. the attorney trying to protect the president from his own worst instincts. "fire and fury," which went on sale this morning, depicts the president and his inner circle on air force one concocting the false story that the trump tower meeting with the russian lawyers was about adoption. writes the author, a realtime ex-of denial and cover-up. the persistent trump idea that it's not a crime to lie to the media was regarded as at best reckless and in itself potentially actionable. an explicit attempt to throw sand into the investigation's gears. the spokesman for the president's legal team resigned, quote, privately confiding that he believed the meeting on air force one misrepresented a likely obstruction of justice, the author writes. my political panel is here with me to break down all of today's developments. let's go to the white house where we find cnn's jeff zeleny. jeff, the white house says that the author, michael wolff, barely spoke with the president. they're calling th

mr. mcgahn was unsuccessful and the president erupted in anger saying he needed his attorney general to protect him." mr. trump said he expected his top law enforcement official to safeguard him the way he believed robert kennedy as attorney general had done for his brother john f. kennedy and eric holder had done for barack obama. mr. trump then asked "where's my roy cohn" a reference to joe mccarthy's pit bull from the red scare era of this country. the "times" also says a different white house lawyer worried if president trump did fire fbi director james comey he might imperil his presidency and therefore, this attorney misled president trump telling him he could only fire comey for cause. this is characterized in the "times" story as the president's lawyers essentially lying to the president to try to protect him from himself. this new report also says that special counsel mueller has been examining a false statement that the president apparently dictated on air force one in july after the "new york times" learned of that trump tower meeting back in 2016. you might recall donald trump jr. c

mr. mcgahn was unsuccessful and the president erupted in anger he needed his attorney general to protect mr. trump then asked, where is code, he was referring to his former personal lawyer and had been a top aide uring the investigation, who died in 1986. he lobbying of mr. sessions is an unrepassported episode that robert mueller learned about as whether mr. es trump instructed the russian inquiry. mr. mueller substantiated claims mr. comey series of memos describing troubling interactions with the president may.e he was fired in the story talks about mr. trump's trying to fire mr. comey times, but he was angered that mr. comey and his estimony on capitol hill in march and in may refused to say is icly whether mr. trump personally under any investigation. by it says in this piece michael smith in the "new york times" that the attempts to stop mr. comey rom firing were successful until may 3rd, when the f.b.i. director once testified on capitol hill. he spent much time describing during f decisions made the bureau's investigation into illary clinton's personal e-mail accounts. r. comey r

mueller, it was white house counsel don mcgahn who ultimately stopped him as "the times" first reported after receiving the president's order, repeating order to fire mrmueller, donald mcgahn refused to ask the justice department to dismiss the special counsel saying he would quit instead. it's not the first time the people around this president have stepped in to stop something that could cause great damage to him or the presidency, but while the president's staff tries to control the message, president trump made it quite clear he sees himself as his own spokesman. >> i presented to the president my concerns and those of deputy attorney general rod rosenstein about the on going leadership issues about the fbi as state in my letter recommending the removal of mr. comey. >> what i did is i was going to fire comey, my decision. >> you made the decision before they came in the room. >> i was going to fire comey. >> he was very definitely attitudes and even the wall once we briefed him when i was at dhs. >> what we need is the wall is when we need to solve a tremendous border on the crime. we need a hall. >> the habit raises questions about the relations

advisers including white house lawyer don mcgahn convinced mr.rump that those conflicts weren't grounds to dismiss mueller and that firing him would be politically catastrophic. the president changed his mind. >> fake news, folks fake news. >> what's your message today. >> typical new york times fake stories. >> reporter: mr. trump neither speaking nor tweeting about it. >> you don't know what kind of evidence the special counsel has. he's not giving reporters updates. he's keeping his cards can close to the vest. the big question that's on everybody's mind right now is when will the president talk about mueller or if he will. >> reporter: earlier this week mr. trump said he was looking forward to being interviewed by mueller and hoped it would happen soon. hannah doba. >> steve win has resigned as finance chairman of the republican national committee amid allegations of sexual misconduct. wynn has been a prolific republican donor. a number of women have said they were harassed or assaulted by wynn. wynn has denied all the allegations. >>> a full

mr. mcgahn said, you know what, i'm not going to do that. it would be bad politically.ions. and assistant to the president, mercedes, you knew this was going to be the first question. so the president says the "new york times" story ain't true. >> well, clearly the "new york times" is stirring up these months' old russian conspiracy stories and quite frankly, you know, i have not spoken to the president about it. the reality is that the president and this white house has been cooperative where the special counsel. and as we continue to see, there is no evidence of collusion. there is no evidence of wrong doing. the white house turned over 20,000 records to the special counsel. again, we want an expedited end to this investigation. we have seen thus far there is no evidence of collusion or wrongdoing. and obviously this comes at a very important moment when the president is about to give his economic speech talking about how america is open for business, how we are going to be investing in our economy here and we want to bring in other parts of, this other companies to c

mr. trump backed down when white house lawyer don mcgahn threatened to resign, according to "the new yorkmes" reports mr. trump demanded mueller be fired weeks after he was appointed. >>> and the olympic committee says the entire board of the usa gymnastics must resign or face decertification. the usoc is also calling for additional training for the gymnastics staff following the sentencing of dr. larry nassar for sexually abusing more than 150 girls and women. usa gymnastics says it completely embraces this. >>> the abuse case involving larry nassar has resonated with gymnasts, parents, and coaches. >> reporter: owner sarajane clifford keeps a close eye on her athletes. >> our motto is safety first, last, and always. >> reporter: she said the larry nassar scandal has turned her beloved sport upside down. >> we're always teaching the kids, don't lie, don't steal, don't cheat, tell the truth. if it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't right. >> reporter: and there's a heightened concern among parents. >> know your surroundings, know who is working with your children, and talk -- most impo

the president decided to back down after white house counsel don mcgahn threatened to resign rather than carrying out that firing. >>> mr. trump has been very busy. he's offered an immigration plan that would allow almost 2 million immigrants to stay. this is all part of the daca proposal, but in return he is asking for $25 billion for a border wall and another $5 billion for border security. the white house also wants to end the visa lottery system and limit family based migration. >>> jury selection is set for the end of october. both men are facing multiple charges for murders this past july. he's already claimed involvement in three of those killings. >>> and lawyers from bill cosby filed two motions yesterday hoping to get his sexual assault case dismissed. one claims the statute of limitations is passed. the other claims prosecutors withheld evidence. specifically an interview with a friend of his accuser andrea constand. he's accused of drugging and sexually assaulting constand at his home in 2004. his retrial is set for april. >>> i'm meteorologist bill henley. it is 5:39. i'm just checking the nbc 10 app. this

mr. trump ultimately backed down when his white house counsel don mcgahn threatened to quit over it saying the move would be catastrophic. the news first reported by "the new york times" said it all happened amid the first reports mueller was looking into a possible obstruction case. the white house on defense. >> we know that the president is not considering firing mueller. we want to find an end to this investigation. >> reporter: democrats pounced renewing calls for a bill aimed at protecting the special counsel. >> we've seen a pattern of behavior of him going after people that are related to this investigation. >> reporter: president trump has long denied he ever considered firing mueller. >> i haven't given it any thought. i mean, i've been reading about it from you people. you say, oh, i'm going the dismiss him. no, i'm not dismissing anybody. >> are you considering firing robert mueller? >> no, not at all. no, i'm not. >> reporter: but his closest advisers had a different take. >> i think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. i think he's weighing that option. >

mr. trump ultimately backed down when his white house counsel, don mcgahn, threatened to quit over it, saying the move would be catastrophic. the news first reported by "the new york times" said it all happened amid the first reports mueller was looking into a possible obstruction case. the white house on defense. >> we know that the president is not considering firing mueller. we want to find an end to this investigation. >> reporter: democrats pounced, renewing calls for a bill aimed at protecting the special counsel. >> we've seen a pattern of behavior of him going after people that are related to this investigation. >> reporter: president trump has long denied he ever considered firing mueller. >> i haven't given it any thought. i mean, i've been reading about it from you people. you say, oh, i'm going to dismiss him. no, i am not dismissing anybody. >> are you considering firing robert mueller? >> no, not at all. no, i'm not. >> reporter: but his closest advisers had a different take. >> i think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. i think he's weighing that option.

"the times," the president ultimately backed down when don mcgahn threatened to resign, saying the move would have a catastrophic effect on mr. trump's presidency. >> certainly there's an argument to be made that you add this piece to the other pieces in the puzzle and this is one more potential problem for the president. >> reporter: the president's white house attorney on the russia/ty cobb said, we decline to comment out of respect for the office of the special counsel and its process. the president has publicly insisted ousting mueller isn't on the table. >> mr. president, you sought or thought about or considered leading to the dismissal of special counsel? anything bob mueller would do that would lead you fin that thought? >> i haven't thought about it. >> there's no solution. now they're saying, oh, well, did he fight back? you fight back, oh, it's obstruction. here's the thing, i hope so. >> reporter: democrats are sounding the alarm. senator mark warner, top democrat on the senate intelligence committee, says firing the special counsel is a red line the president can't control. abc news, washington. >>> staying with

key difference is don mcgahn is not the president's personal lawyer, he's the white house counsel, right? he's responsible to the office of the president and not personally to mr. trump. why does that matter here when it comes to potentially coming before congress and testifying publicly and et cetera? >> it really does put mcgahn's conduct and his willingness to go to the attorney general, it raises the importance, right, his obligation is not just to the president individually or to the american people more broadly. if they thinks the president is making this request to throw sand in the gears of the russia investigation, and expect sessions to do things on his behalf to impede the investigation, and mcgahn has a separate obligation to push back on the president or somehow sort of -- he's supposed to be managing that relationship, managing that communication with the attorney general and it makes it incumbent upon mcgahn, not to be the messenger for the president but to apply his own legal judgment to ensure the communications between the white house and the justice department are legal. >> two days after mr. comey's testimony, an aide to mr. sessions approa

mr. shaub as i asked before. do you think mcgahn is pulling a john dean here?ohn cooperated with the investigators during the nixon administration, by the way, when they were looking into the watergate cover-up. >> well it sure sounded from that excerpt like john dean thinks that. you know, it's funny because i had john dean in mind when i wrote that tweet. i don't know history well enough to have any clue what was going through john dean's head at the time. but you heard him just now talking to you make the point that this is a very dangerous situation and that pretty much any attorney would know that this is the bare minimum that you have to do. and i like john dean's point that you don't go pinning a medal on somebody for doing what's merely required. if that's the case, i would like to somebody to pin a medal on me for taking the trash out or doing the dishes after breakfast. >> very good point. do you think that this matters that it was -- happened months ago and nothing came of it? do you think it matters? >> well, you know, you've heard some of trump's w

mr. mueller and don mcgahn stopped him then don mcgahn is a pretty tough guy and a pretty smart guy because if the president had indeeded moved to fire mueller or fired him it would have caused a firestorm. the funniest thing about the president is he insists he has no guilt or culpability or complicity in this matter with the charges with russia and yet he acts as if he does. there's a sense he's constantly trying to shut this down because he's afraid. in fact, if he has no problem, let everything proceed, go forward, see how it goes, answer the final report. >> joyce vance, i hear people sayings "okay, he tried to fire mueller but he didn't." what is the significance, if you believe there is some, in the act of ordering the firing even if it didn't happen? >> it's part of this ongoing pattern of conduct that we've seen from the president about the entire russia situation even before he formally came into office. he hasn't treated the threat of russian interference with our election the way we would expect a president to, hasn't taken it seriously, hasn't tried to commit the country to an

mr. trump tried to fire special counsel robert mueller last june. >> fake news, folks, fake news. typical new york times fake story. >> reporter: according to the times, president trump backed down after white house lawyer don mcgahn refused to carry out the president's order and threatened to quit. cbs news has confirmed the president discussed conflict of interest concerns about mueller with top advisors at the time, but by august mr. trump publicly insisted there was no thought of removing mueller. >> i've been reading about it. no, i'm not dismissing anybody. >> reporter: earlier this week the president again told white house reporters there's been no collusion and said he looks forward to talking with mueller. since mueller's takeover of the russia investigation lawmakers on capitol hill have had his back. >> there's sort of a force around mueller, congressional republicans at least congressional republican leadership are prepared to defend. >> any effort to go after mueller could be the beginning of the end of the trump presidency. >> reporter: in august senators cory booker and lindsey graham created new legislation for judicial oversight. >> the reality is we are in a position right now should the presiden

mr. trump only backed down when white house counsel don mcgahn refused to ask the justice department to fire mueller and threatened to quit. there are two critical points of analysis. one legal and one political. legally obstruction of justice is a crime of intent. that means you have to show that the defendant was trying to stop a process that could expose him to criminal jeopardy. now, while trump didn't go forward with firing mueller, yet. could investigators see this report which they learned about this information they knew about this from interviews with white house staffers. could they see this as proof of intent? if not obstruction itself. you get my point. it isn't a crime in itself because he didn't move on mueller. is it proof that the president is trying to do something that may be criminal? again it's an open question. there is now more of a suggestion of that than there was before this report. there's a clear point. if this reporting is true. we have no reason to doubt it. president trump yesterday he made reference to the nixon investigation. in the context of a bogus suggesti

and in trying to pressure jeff sessions, not to recuse himself, don mcgahn did what any decent lawyer would do and that is to say, mr. president, i will not commit this crime, i can't do it. in fact if you make me do it, i'll quit. and of course at that point, the president backed off. but it shows a great deal about his corrupt motives and eliminates the possibility of any defense that he was simply a novice at the political game and he didn't know what he was doing, it eliminates all that, that but for mcgahn's threat to resign, he would have carried this out. and he's been talking continually about considering the possibility of firing robert mueller. there's no conceivable explanation of that, other than the fact that what robert mueller knows and is likely to bring forward is terribly incriminating for the president. and i think we're right on the verge of some kind of explosion. when miller says i want to interview you, and trump, after getting advice from his lawyer might say, i really don't feel comfortable with it, if that's what he says, he will be ordered to appear. he will be subpoenaed. if he defies tha

mr. trump reportedly backed down only when white house counsel don mcgahn threatened to quit saying the move would be catastrophic. they want to include legislation protecting mueller in budget negotiations. >> this president has continued to say there's no there there. well, he is acting in absolutely the opposite way of someone who had nothing to hide. >> reporter: publicly mr. trump has repeatedly denied that he has considered firing mr. mueller. >> i haven't been giving it any thought. i've been reading about it from you people. you say i'm going to dismiss him. no, i'm not dismissing anybody. >> are you considering firing robert mueller? >> no, not at all. >> reporter: but friends have acknowledged that he has. >> i think he's considering perhaps preventing the special counsel. >> reporter: in july the president told "the new york times" that mueller would cross a red line if he looked to mr. trump's family finances. mr. trump told reporters on wednesday that he looks forward to sitting down for an interview with special counsel. >> i would do it under oath. >> reporter: but worried mue

reporting, ultimately backed down after donald mcgahn threaten today resign rather than carry out the firing. mueller remains as special counsel. the times writing, mr. mueller learned about the episode in recent months as his investigators interviewed current and former senior white house officials in his inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice. it continued, the president began to argue that mr. mueller had three conflicts of interest that disqualified him from overseeing the investigation. >> those three conflicts, according to the times, a dispute years ago over fees at trump's virginia golf club. the fact that mr. mueller had most recently worked for a law firm that previously counted jared kushner as a client, and finally mr. mueller had interviewed the president for the position of fbi director just days before being announced as special prosecutor. in response to the report, democratic senator mark warner, the co-chair of the senate intel committee, said any attempt by the president to dismiss mueller would be a, quote, red line and a gross abuse of power. warner and other members of congress are calling for legislation to prot

white house counsel don mcgahn was frustrated by the talk of firing mueller and other also matters. he threatened to resign, but not directly to mr advisers urged the president to leave mueller alone. mcgahn remains white house counsel and mueller is still special counsel. >> don mcgahn did the right thing and the good thing is the president listened. >> reporter: also the trump justice department had reason to believe that campaign adviser carter page was a russian agent. according to a report in "the new york times," a house republican memo still kept secret revealed that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein extended surveillance of page. that original surveillance, this memo asserts, was based at least in part on research financed by democrats. >> major, thanks. cbs news will bring you the president's state of the union address tomorrow night at 6:00 pacific time here on cbs. norah, gayle and i will lead our coverage from new york while jeff glor anchors from washington. our entire political team will provide reporting and analysis. >>> hip-hop star jay z is the president's newest twitter target. jay z criticized the preside

mcgahn's role in the trump orbuio orbit. michael schmidt quoting "the west wing confrontation marks the first time that mr. trump is known to have tried to fired special counsel robert mueller. "the washington post" adding, quote, trump's ire at mueller rose to such a level that then white house strategist steven bannon and reince priebus grew incredibly concerned he was going to fire mueller and sought to enlist others to intervene with the president, according to a presidential adviser who requested anonymity. both were worried about the possibility and discussed how to keep him from making such a move. the president woke up to the news in switzerland and responded with what has become a reflection for him. >> why did you want to fire robert mueller? >> fake news, fake news. typical "new york times" fake story. >> but no denials from his attorney ty cobb, or anyone else at the white house, ty cobb saying we decline to comment out of respect for the office of special counsel and its process. joining us today, "new york times" reporter michael schmidt who along with maggie haberman who broke that story las

mr. trump about whether he had the authority to remove him. so one of mcgahn's deputies lied to the president about whether he had the right to remove him, something that you have said just this hour the president clearly had the authority to do? >> yeah, so after comey testified before the house intelligence committee in march, comey wouldn't say at that hearing the president wasn't under investigation. the president got very upset by this, and started talking openly about getting rid of the fbi director. this lawyer told the president that he needed a reason to fire, a cause to fire the fbi director. but what happened was that when dylan went back and talked to the white house junior lawyers in the white house counsel's office, they found that you didn't need cause. you could simply get rid of him. but dylan was very concerned about what could happen to donald trump's presidency if he fired the fbi director with the russia investigation going on. this would be something that the justice department would have to look into, potential obstruction of justice. so d

. >> reporter: neither the white house nor white house counsel don mcgahn has issued a denial of the report that mr. trump wanted special counsel robert mueller fired. cbs news has confirmed last june president trump was angry about mueller's investigation and raised concerns about three possible conflicts of interest. but top white house advisers told mr. trump the conflicts of interest were not grounds to fire mueller and that doing so would be politically catastrophic, leading the president to drop the idea. >> did you want to fire robert mueller? >> fake news, folks. fake news. typical new york times fake stories. >> reporter: before departing davos, trump suggested the reports were false, while using his address to the world economic forum to say the u.s. is open for business. >> america first does not mean america alone. when the united states grows, so does the world. r his two-day visit was also a chance to make up for some diplo massic missteps. >> it's a great honor to be with president kagame. >> reporter: in a meeting with rwanda's president, he ignored questions about his alleged use o