Trump Denies Reports That He Wanted to Fire Mueller Last Year

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump denied reports that he wanted to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller late last year, a day after he is said to have discussed terminating Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein with White House aides.

"If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him," Trump said in a Twitter posting early Thursday. "Just more Fake News from a biased newspaper!"

A roster of Trump advisers and allies have urged him to thwart the investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump has grown increasingly combative toward Mueller’s investigation after FBI agents descended on the office and home of his lawyer Michael Cohen on Monday. A person familiar with the matter said Trump on Wednesday discussed firing Rosenstein with White House aides.

To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Washington at tdopp@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Gordon at cgordon39@bloomberg.net, Kathleen Hunter

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