Mueller to accept some written answers from Trump: NYT

by Emily Birnbaum - 09/04/18 6:29 PM ET

Special counsel Robert Mueller has reportedly agreed to accept some written answers from President Trump regarding whether Trump’s 2016 campaign worked with Russia amid Russia’s election interference.

The New York Times reports that Mueller sent a letter to Trump’s legal team late last week saying he would accept some of Trump’s responses in writing.

However, on the question of whether the president tried to obstruct the probe itself, Mueller’s team acknowledged that executive privilege issues could put a wrinkle in their push for an interview with Trump and didn’t ask for written responses on that matter, the Times reported.

Both sides are still negotiating over whether the president will sit down for an interview with the special counsel.

{mosads}“We continue to maintain an ongoing dialogue with the office of the special counsel,” Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow told the Times.

Recent reports have indicated Trump’s legal team is reluctant to allow the president to sit down with Mueller due to concern that Trump could perjure himself.

Veteran journalist Bob Woodward in his upcoming book “Fear: Trump in the White House” reports that former White House lawyer John Dowd told Trump in March that sitting down with Mueller for an interview would end in perjury charges and imprisonment.

Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has stated repeatedly that he believes Mueller is setting up a “perjury trap.”

Giuliani last month said Trump’s legal team was planning to send a letter to Mueller expressing their “reluctance” to allow questions pertaining to obstruction of justice during an interview with the president.

“We have a real reluctance about allowing any questions about obstruction,” Giuliani told The Washington Post at the time.

Mueller’s decision to accept some written responses has led Trump’s lawyers to believe any sit-down interview would be more limited in scope than originally planned, the Times reported.

Tags Donald Trump Mueller interview Robert Mueller Special Counsel investigation