Trump’s legal team lacks security clearances: report
Members of President Trump’s legal team do not have security clearances ahead of a possible interview between Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
Two sources told Bloomberg that only Trump’s former lead lawyer, John Dowd, had security clearance.
Dowd abruptly resigned in March after breaking with the president on key legal elements surrounding Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
{mosads}
Trump’s current lead lawyer for the Mueller probe, Jay Sekulow, still doesn’t have his security clearance, Bloomberg reported.
Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer handling Mueller’s requests, has a security clearance, but Cobb represents Trump as president and not as a private citizen, the news outlet noted.
It was reported on Tuesday that Mueller suggested during a meeting with Dowd earlier this year that he would subpoena Trump to appear before a grand jury if the president refused to talk.
Two current U.S. officials told Bloomberg that Mueller believes he has the legal authority to subpoena a sitting president even though that has never been fully tested before. Trump would not be allowed to bring his lawyer into a grand jury room if subpoenaed.
If Trump agrees with sit down for an interview with Mueller, the topics that would be discussed would require his legal team to have security clearances.
The New York Times reported on Monday the list of questions Mueller wants to ask Trump.
The topics include the well-known meeting at Trump Tower involving Donald Trump Jr. and a Russia lawyer, as well as whether the president himself discussed sanctions on Russia or meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the campaign, the Times reported.
Other topics include what Trump knew, if anything, about Russian hacking in the presidential race and his decisions to fire former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former FBI Director James Comey.
Trump’s newest lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, met with Mueller last week to reopen negotiations over a possible interview.
Giuliani joined the president’s legal team late last month along with former federal prosecutors Jane Serene Raskin and Marty Raskin.