Trump directed White House counsel McGahn to deny reports he ordered Mueller's firing

After The New York Times reported in January 2018 that President Trump had ordered White House counsel Don McGahn to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller in June 2017, Trump repeatedly directed McGahn to publicly deny the story. According to the Mueller Report, Trump relayed this request through multiple intermediaries including his personal attorney, press secretary Sarah Sanders, and staff secretary Rob Porter, before meeting with McGahn directly in the Oval Office in February 2018. McGahn refused all requests, telling Porter that the media reports were accurate. The Mueller Report found 'substantial evidence' supporting the Times's account. This episode was later examined as potential obstruction of justice, as Trump was asking his counsel to make a false public statement about events McGahn had witnessed.

"The President then asked, 'What about these notes? Why do you take notes? Lawyers don't take notes. I never had a lawyer who took notes.' McGahn responded that he keeps notes because he is a 'real lawyer'" — From the Mueller Report, documenting Trump's February 2018 Oval Office meeting with McGahn where he pressured him to deny the accurate reporting about the Mueller firing directive