US special counsel Robert Mueller is examining whether President Donald Trump attempted to obstruct justice by trying to quash part of an FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and then firing the FBI director, the Washington Post reported on June 14.
Special counsel Robert Mueller, who took over the responsibility of supervising FBI's Russian investigation, will be interviewing intelligence officials looking for any evidence that Trump might have committed obstruction of justice, according to the latest report.
Mr. Mueller is overseeing a host of investigations involving people who are or were in Trump's orbit, people familiar with the probe were quoted as saying.
Comey said at the Senate hearing that he had an associate leak detailed memos about his conversations with Trump in part because he felt so uncomfortable with Trump's conversations with him and hoped to push the Justice Department into appointing a special counsel.
USA TODAY has not independently verified the report.
The White House has been inconsistent with its public messaging about the dismissal - initially saying Trump took the recommendations of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about Comey's management of the FBI and his handling of the Clinton email investigation. He declined further comment.
Mueller is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
Last week, Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he had informed Trump that there was no investigation of the president's personal conduct, at least while he was leading the FBI.
But as the legal rope has tightened, Trump's allies have gone on the offensive, questioning the credibility of the special investigator Mueller, a respected former Federal Bureau of Investigation director who served under Republican president George W. Bush.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal have a point to prove — FIFA Confederations Cup
The World Cup, scheduled to be held from June 14 to July 15, will see 32 teams play in 12 stadiums across 11 Russian cities. The five-time world champions have already sealed their berth in 2018 world event. "It will become more popular".
In the most famous presidential investigation, Watergate, Archibald Cox was appointed special prosecutor on May 18, 1973 - by June 5, Nixon was complaining about being attacked by Cox.
Also Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley said his panel will investigate the removal of former FBI Director James Comey and "any alleged improper partisan interference in law enforcement investigations".
While a sitting president is unlikely to face criminal prosecution, obstruction of justice could form the basis for his impeachment in Congress.
A White House rep said Tuesday night they were not considering doing so.
Trump had received private assurances from then-FBI Director James B. Comey starting in January that he was not personally under investigation.
Former United States attorney Barbara McQuade, who served under the Barack Obama administration, told the Daily Beast if Trump fired Mueller "and it could be shown that his objective was to impede the investigation, it could be additional evidence of obstruction of justice".
In an off-camera 18-minute gaggle held Thursday, deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders seemed to infer that she was barred from the discussing the tweets President Trump fired off earlier that morning.
Mueller briefed Senators Wednesday on his work.
Comey also suggested another factor in his termination was his declining to lift what Trump, during private phone conversations, described as the "cloud" of the bureau's Russian Federation probe hanging over his presidency that was making it hard for him to govern.
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