02 September, 2017
The U.S. Justice Department has reportedly turned over a copy of a draft letter written by President Donald Trump and an aide explaining why the president planned to fire Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey.
Trump's lawyers insisted the president has the constitutional right to fire the Federal Bureau of Investigation director for any reason and that Mueller was an admitted leaker, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Trump told NBC News in May that he was frustrated by the ongoing investigation and believes it was motivated by Democrats' fury at losing the election.
Miller, the firebrand aide who helped design Trump's travel ban and hardline immigration policies, had become a trusted adviser to the president during the campaign and remained in his inner circle even after fellow nationalist and chief strategist Steve Bannon began to fall from the president's favor. McGahn managed to convince the president not to send the letter.
At the time of the firing however, Trump told aides that he was angry that Comey refused to publicly say that Trump himself was not under investigation - something Trump claimed he had told him privately. So a new letter written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein focusing on Comey's mishandling of Hillary Clinton emails investigation was sent to the soon-to-be ousted bureau director instead.
The letter, details of which were revealed in subsequent days, focused on Comey's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.
The letter "could now become key evidence for Mueller as he examines whether the Comey firing was part of an effort to obstruct the Russian Federation investigation".
Mueller was given that original letter by the Justice Department sometime in recent weeks.
Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer, declined to discuss the letter or its contents.