Did a dispute over golf fees push Donald Trump to try and fire Robert Mueller? – By Harriet Alexander (telegraph.co.uk) / July 26 2018
One of three reasons Mr Trump wanted to fire Mr Mueller’s related to a golfing dispute, according to reports Credit: Danny Lawson
It was a standard inquiry about the refund of yearly golf dues. But Robert Mueller’s 2011 request was never answered. The then-director of the FBI resigned from the Trump golf course in Sterling, Virginia, and gave it little more thought.
In June 2017, however, that resignation became a source of fury for Donald Trump, helping make his mind up on a decision to fire the special investigator, according to the New York times.
The paper claimed that, in June, Mr Trump came up with three reasons as to why Mr Mueller should be fired from his role as special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the US election.
Mr Trump told associates that Mr Mueller could not be impartial because he had previously worked for a law firm that represented Jared Kushner, his son-in-law.
A second cause for concern, the president said, was that Mr Mueller had been interviewed to return as the FBI director the day before he was appointed special counsel in May.
And finally, he claimed that a dispute years ago over fees at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, had prompted Mr Mueller, the FBI director at the time, to resign his membership.
The president was only convinced not to go ahead with his plan when Donald McGahn, the White House counsel, threatened to resign if he did.
Mr Trump on Friday called the New York Times report “fake news”, but his lawyer, Ty Cobb, did not deny it had happened – only issuing a statement saying they would not comment.
The dispute about fees was first reported in The Washington Post, in July 2017.
They claimed that Mr Mueller resigned his membership to the club in 2011 in a dispute related to membership fees. A Mueller spokesman, however, denied membership fees were an issue when he resigned his membership.
The Washington Post reported that the dispute was hardly a dispute at all. According to a person familiar with the matter, Mr Mueller had sent a letter requesting a dues refund in accordance with normal club practice and never heard back.
In 2015 Mr Trump, then a newly-announced presidential contender, formally showed off his $25 million overhaul of the 800-acre property along the Potomac River in Sterling, which hosted the 2017 Senior PGA Championship.
He bought the course in 2009.
“What we did is basically blew up the property,” he said at the time. “We built a brand-new championship course that is built to the highest standards of championship play, to the highest standards of audience and viewership, to the highest standards of golf.”
Approximately 465 trees were cut down as part of the renovation, which angered conservationists and some local officials.
“Originally we had massive trees — you couldn’t see anything,” he said, standing on an overlook above a man-made waterfall.
“And through lots of hard work, and lots of environmental impact statements and lots of everything, we were able to clear the area and now we have unobstructed views of the Potomac Rover. There’s nothing like it. You can go 20 miles up and down the river and there’s nothing like it.”
In 2015 the club had around 1,000 members, said Lawrence Glick, who managed Mr Trump’s golf businesses as executive vice president at the Trump Organization.
Members pay an initial fee of $100,000 and a monthly fee of $698, he said.
Mr Trump has frequently visited the course as president, playing a round with Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator, in October.
