Trump lawyers met with Mueller’s team in December: report

Lawyers for President Trump met with members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team shortly before Christmas, CNN reported on Tuesday. 

The details of the meeting were not reported, but according to CNN, the president’s outside legal team was hoping to better understand the next steps in the probe and when it might come to an end. 

Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly predicted that the investigation would wrap up quickly, though media reports indicate that the probe could continue well into 2018. 

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A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment for this story. In a statement, the White House said it would not discuss meetings related to the special counsel’s investigation.

“The White House, out of respect for the OSC and its process does not discuss witnesses, meetings or other such matters relating to the full cooperation the White House has provided the OSC,” the White House said.

It was not the first time Trump’s lawyers have met with Mueller’s team. But the meeting came after investigators wrapped up interviews with White House officials they had requested to speak with. 

Mueller and his team are looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, as well as possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. 

Trump has repeatedly denied any improper contacts or coordination between his campaign and the Russians and has called Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt.”

In an interview with The New York Times last week, however, Trump said that he believed Mueller would treat him fairly in the investigation, though he also said that the probe made the U.S. look bad to the world.

Mueller’s investigation has so far resulted in the indictments of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and one of his associates, Richard Gates, who are facing charges of money laundering, tax evasion and failing to register as a foreign agent, among other allegations.

George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, has also pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with a professor with ties to the Russian government.

Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, pleaded guilty last month to lying to the FBI about his contacts with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the month before Trump took office.

Updated on Jan. 3 at 8:57 a.m.