Lawyer told Trump he’s going to jail if he testifies to Mueller: Woodward book

President Trump’s former lawyer reportedly told him that sitting down with special counsel Robert Mueller would end in prison time for Trump, according to excerpts from journalist Bob Woodward’s upcoming book.

In “Fear: Trump in the White House,” the Watergate veteran’s book on the Trump presidency, Woodward says that former White House lawyer John Dowd told Trump in March that sitting down with Mueller for an interview, which Trump has been considering for months, would end in perjury charges and imprisonment.

{mosads}“Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit,” Dowd told Trump, according to excerpts obtained by The Washington Post, where Woodward is an associate editor.

Trump reportedly pushed back, assuring Dowd that he’d “be a real good witness” in his own defense.

“You are not a good witness,” Dowd replied, according to the excerpts. “Mr. President, I’m afraid I just can’t help you.”

Dowd resigned the next day, citing differences of opinion over the direction of the president’s defense in Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference.

“I love the President and I wish him well,” Dowd said in a written statement to The Hill in March.

The book also claims that Dowd previously expressed his concerns to Mueller and his deputy, James Quarles, over whether the special counsel office would leak transcripts of a potential meeting between the president and the special counsel.

Dowd, Woodward reports, was suspicious that the transcripts would intentionally be leaked to hurt Trump politically.

“I’m not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot. And you publish that transcript, because everything leaks in Washington, and the guys overseas are going to say, ‘I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?’ ” Dowd reportedly said.

“John, I understand,” Mueller replied, according to Woodward.

Trump has frequently attacked the special counsel probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in recent weeks and has publicly called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to shut down the investigation.

Woodward’s upcoming book is set for release on Sept. 11.