Joshua Roberts/Reuters
A White House lawyer reportedly lied to President Donald Trump in an attempt to prevent him from firing FBI Director James Comey by conveying to the president that he needed “cause” to fire Comey. According to The New York Times, the lawyer, Uttam Dhillon, believed that if Trump fired Comey, it would set off an investigation into the president’s attempts to interfere with the investigation into Russia’s election meddling. Sure enough, special counsel Robert Mueller began investigating the circumstances surrounding Comey’s firing, including whether Trump obstructed justice. The Times also reports that Mueller corroborated Comey’s memos in which he claimed that the president asked him to lay off of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was later indicted as part of the Mueller probe. The Times also reported that Trump instructed White House counsel Don McGahn to prevent Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from any Russia-related matters. The effort failed, and Trump has publicly complained about Sessions’ decision to recuse himself.