Ex-US attorney: Trump asking about Mueller interviews ‘could indicate a consciousness of guilt’

A former U.S. attorney said Wednesday that the fact that President Trump has reportedly asked witnesses in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe for details about their interviews with investigators “could indicate a consciousness of guilt.”

Barbara McQuade, a former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said on MSNBC that asking about such interviews “raises this appearance of consciousness of guilt.”

“If you’re not guilty of anything, then you have no interest in talking with these folks,” she said. “If you’re talking to them, it suggests a level of interest that could indicate a consciousness of guilt.”

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The New York Times reported Wednesday that Trump had asked his former chief of staff Reince Priebus and White House counsel Don McGahn about matters they discussed with Mueller and his team of investigators.

Both Priebus and McGahn have spoken to investigators as part of Mueller’s probe.

Mueller is examining Russia’s role in the 2016 election and whether members of the Trump campaign conspired with Moscow to influence and disrupt the presidential race. He is also looking at whether Trump has sought to obstruct the inquiry.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the 2016 election, and has called Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt.”