resign if the president went forward, a source tells cnn. in statement, trump's attorney would only say we decline to comment out of respect for the office of the special counsel and its process. trump has disparaged the inquiry in the election. but the stunning revelation that trump tried to oust the man leading the probe is perhaps one more point in pattern of behavior some say could be considered obstruction of justice. the criminal act of interfering with a law enforcement investigation. in addition to trying to fire mueller, the president asked former fbi director, james comey, for his loyalty in january, then in february, trump asked comey to drop any investigation into michael flynn. he fired comey officially in may. saying it was because of the fbi director's handling of the clints e-mail investigation, but later told nbc's lester holt something different. >> when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, you know, this