Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team’s interest in interviewing the President has not changed and they are still seeking to have him do so, according to two sources.
They added that the special counsel’s stance is the same as a year and a half ago, noting that “nothing has changed in that sense from the first day.”
However, President Donald Trump and his legal team are opposed to having him sit for an interview with Mueller.
The sources further said that Trump’s lawyers and Mueller continued with some discussions since Trump responded to written questions shortly before Thanksgiving, mostly regarding possible collusion and the period before the inauguration, CNN reports.
Part of the special counsel’s interest in interviewing the President is to get his “state of mind” about obstruction of justice in the so-called Russia investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians to manipulate the U.S. presidential election.
Discussions of an interview were put on hold while President Trump wrote his responses to Mueller’s questions, which the resident’s legal team hoped would bring Mueller closer to finishing his probe. But the special counsel is still seeking to interview President Trump.
Asked if Mueller had follow-up questions to the President’s written responses, the sources declined to comment. They did, however, say that for now there is no sign that Mueller is moving to subpoena President Trump.
The Huffington Post writes that the President’s lawyers are worried he wouldn’t be able to not grandstand — and lie — in a Mueller interview while under oath. In his book Fear: Trump in the White House, Trump’s former personal lawyer John Dowd writes that he often warned Trump that if he sat down for an interview, he would probably be charged with perjury and end up in an “orange jumpsuit.”
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