Trump: Russia probe not a factor in McGahn's pending departure

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday said the special counsel’s Russia probe was not a factor in the pending departure of White House Counsel Don McGahn, who has cooperated extensively with the investigation.

A day after announcing via Twitter that McGahn was stepping down in the fall, the president took to Twitter to push back against news accounts, attributed to White House sources, that indicated McGahn’s willingness to sit down with special counsel Robert Mueller for nearly 30 hours of testimony played a role in his inevitable departure.

“The Rigged Russia Witch Hunt did not come into play, even a little bit, with respect to my decision on Don McGahn!” Trump tweeted early Thursday. The president has previously said he signed off on McGahn speaking with Mueller.

McGahn, a behind-the-scenes figure in the West Wing, has yet to weigh in publicly on his departure, but The Washington Post and other outlets reported Wednesday that Trump’s announcement took the 50-year-old lawyer by surprise. He had privately signaled to White House officials for months that he was eyeing the exit door, but had planned to hold off on announcing his resignation until the conclusion of the Supreme Court confirmation process for Brett Kavanaugh, a federal court judge who McGahn endorsed for the nomination.

Trump on Twitter pushed back against previous reports in the Post and The New York Times that indicated McGahn had urged the president against terminating Mueller and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who Trump has publicly criticized for recusing himself from the Russia probe.

“I liked Don, but he was NOT responsible for me not firing Bob Mueller or Jeff Sessions. So much Fake Reporting and Fake News!” Trump tweeted.

McGahn threatened to quit last June if Trump followed through with firing Mueller, who is investigating purported ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, according to the Times. The president’s legal team also has advised Trump against firing Sessions before the midterm election, according to the Post.

On Thursday, Trump told Bloomberg News in a sit-down interview that Sessions' job was safe until at least the midterm elections. When asked if he would keep Sessions past November, Trump declined to comment.

"I just would love to have him do a great job," Trump told Bloomberg News.

The president on Twitter also denied media reports that his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who serve as White House advisers, were factors in McGahn's leaving. The Times reported Wednesday that Ivanka Trump had previously expressed concern to her father about a Times report indicating the president and his closest advisers were largely unaware about the details of McGahn’s testimony to Mueller.

“Ivanka Trump & Jared Kushner had NOTHING to do with the so called ‘pushing out’ of Don McGahn,” Trump tweeted. “The Fake News Media has it, purposely, so wrong! They love to portray chaos in the White House when they know that chaos doesn’t exist — just a ‘smooth running machine’ with changing parts."

Trump, who has yet to name McGahn’s successor, tweeted Thursday that he was “very excited about the person who will be taking the place” of McGahn.

White House attorney Emmet Flood is one potential successor whose name has been floated by White House aides. Flood, who represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings, was hired by Trump in May, at the recommendation of McGahn.