ABC News(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump ordered the firing of Robert Mueller last June, but he retracted his demand after White House counsel Donald F. McGhan II said he would resign from his post rather than execute the president’s order, The New York Times reported Thursday night.

McGahn refused to ask the Department of Justice to fire Mueller, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, because he felt it would it fuel the perception that the White House was attempting to obstruct the Russia investigation, the Times reported.

When contacted by ABC News, special counsel spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment on the Times’ story.

And Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer leading the response to the investigation, told ABC News, “We decline to comment out of respect for the Office of the Special Counsel and its process.”

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