Giuliani: Mueller told us he’d wrap up Trump obstruction probe by Sept. 1

President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller gave him the deadline of Sept. 1 to end his probe into possible obstruction of justice on the part of the president.

“September 1 was the date that Bob Mueller gave me back two months ago … When we were talking about getting his report done, he threw out the date September 1 as a reasonable date to get it done,” Giuliani said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“I thought he [Mueller] meant, well that’ll keep us clear of the election. And they did say something like they didn’t want to repeat some of the mistakes that [former FBI director James] Comey made,” he continued. Comey has been slammed by the Justice Department and Democrats for showing poor judgment during the 2016 election, particularly for his decision to announce that the FBI was renewing its investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State just days before the presidential election.

“Maybe I put those things together or Jay did, and we came away with the idea that they’re trying to get it done by then.”

{mosads}

Giuliani’s remarks come amid working negotiations between Trump’s lawyers and Mueller to set up an interview as part of Mueller’s investigation.

Trump’s legal team has said Mueller would not be allowed to focus on questions of obstruction of justice. Mueller reportedly has focused on tweets made by the president related to his firing of former Comey and demanding the probe’s dissolution.

Giuliani said Wednesday that the legal team handling Trump’s response to the special counsel investigation would send Mueller a counteroffer for a potential interview, as “a good faith attempt to reach an agreement” with Mueller’s office.