President Trump has come out to say he is eager and willing to meet with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. This past January he told reporters, “I’m looking forward to it [testifying] actually.” He added, speaking about doing an interview with Mueller: “I would do it under oath.”
While that may surprise some of us, what isn’t surprising is that President Trump’s lawyers and his advisors within the White House are divided on whether this would be a good move by the President. Some see it as shrewd move while others fear entrapment or some kind of gaffe by Trump.
After a year, Mueller has only managed a very dubious guilty plea from former national security adviser Michael Flynn and a minor campaign worker early on in the Trump campaign, George Papadopoulos. Both pleaded guilty to lying to investigators. Mueller also has indicted 13 Russians for a scheme to inject misinformation into the 2016 presidential elections. In one year neither the word collusion nor the name Trump has appeared in any of these indictments.
Trump’s lawyers want to leverage his participation to secure a number of commitment from Mueller. One such condition may be to allow President Trump to be interviewed by Mueller and his team if the special counsel commits to a date for concluding the Trump-related portion of the investigation at a minimum.
One idea is to suggest a deadline of 60 days from the date of the interview. But legal experts are skeptical that the special counsel would be open to such a condition from Trump legal team. Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor and an expert in government investigations notes:
You can’t put a timeline on these things … Someone could walk in the door on the day before their proposed deadline and say, ‘I’ve got some information that’s going to blow your minds.’ … Mueller’s going to say, ‘Oh, too bad, the deadline’s tomorrow?
Mueller’s appointment as special counsel has no such end-date, and the latest administration budget gives his office $10 million a year to keep digging until he finds something, anything.
Another consideration the legal team may broach is limiting the scope of Mueller’s questioning of the president. It is expected such an interview would focus on President Trump’s decision to fire former national security adviser Mike Flynn and former FBI director James Comey.
General questions about what the president was thinking when he ordered the firing of Mr. Comey or General Flynn might be acceptable, as opposed to what actions he took on specific dates and times. Alberto Gonzales, attorney general under former President George W. Bush, said:
“As a lawyer, what I would want to get a sense of is how careful my client is going to be when responding to questions … If I’m totally confident that this person can be careful in saying no more than needs to be said, I might let my client go ahead and testify.”
President Trump has been eager to see the investigation wrap up as quickly as possible for a while, calling it a distraction that is damaging the country. His lawyers have repeatedly sought public timelines by which the investigation would end but those have come and gone.
Never shy to taunt his opponents, Trump tweeted this past January:
On and on it goes. Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing.
Bloomberg reports:
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice is said to be close to completion, but he may set it aside while he finishes other key parts of his probe, such as possible collusion and the hacking of Democrats, according to current and former U.S. officials.
The obstruction part of Mueller’s investigation is said to be focused on three main episodes: the drafting of a misleading statement about the purpose of a June 2016 meeting between Jared Kushner and a group of Russians at Trump Tower; Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey last May; and the disclosure that Trump considered firing Mueller last June.
Trump has publicly aired his frustrations on the Russia probe, tweeting:
Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the Trump Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November? … Bigger than Watergate! Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.
He has a point.
~ American Liberty Report
