WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would be willing to be
interviewed under oath by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is
investigating
allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
“I‘m looking
forward to it, actually,” Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said
of an interview with Mueller, a former FBI director. “I would do it under
oath.”
Although
Trump has pledged cooperation with Mueller’s probe before, Trump made his
assertion as the White House and allies in Congress have stepped up attacks on
the investigation’s credibility and Trump himself has hedged on whether he
would answer questions.
Trump’s
attorneys have been talking to Mueller’s team about an interview, according to
sources with knowledge of the investigation. “I would like to do it as soon as
possible,” Trump said.
Trump said,
however, that setting a date certain for an interview would be “subject to my
lawyers and all of that.” Asked whether he thought Mueller would treat him
fairly, Trump replied: “We’re going to find out.”
Ty Cobb, the
lawyer in charge of the White House response to Mueller’s probe, said in a
statement that Trump was speaking hurriedly to reporters before departing on
his trip to Davos, Switzerland. Cobb said Trump emphasized that he remained
committed to cooperating with the investigation and looked forward to speaking
with Mueller.
Cobb said
Mueller’s team and Trump’s personal lawyers were working out the arrangements
for a meeting.
Sources told
Reuters earlier on Wednesday that senior U.S. intelligence officers including
CIA Director Mike Pompeo had been questioned by the special counsel’s team
about whether Trump tried to obstruct justice in the Russia probe.
Such
questioning is further indication that Mueller’s criminal investigation into
purported Russian interference in the election and potential collusion by
Trump’s campaign includes examining the president’s actions around the probe.
In his
remarks to reporters on Wednesday, Trump repeated past statements that there
was no collusion between the campaign and Russia and “there’s no obstruction
whatsoever.” The Kremlin has denied conclusions by U.S. intelligence agencies
that Russia interfered in the election campaign using hacking and propaganda to
try to tilt the race in Trump’s favor.
Trump on
Wednesday denied a Washington Post report that last year he had asked
then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe whom he had voted for in 2016, which
according to reports, left McCabe concerned about civil servants being
interrogated about their political leanings.
I don’t
think so. I don’t think I did. I don’t know what’s the big deal with that,
because I would ask you,” Trump said to reporters.
COMEY FIRING
In
interviews last year with Pompeo, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats
and National Security Agency Director Admiral Mike Rogers, the sources said
Mueller’s team focused on whether Trump had asked them to lean on James Comey,
the Federal Bureau of Investigation director until Trump fired him in May.
Comey said
Trump dismissed him to try to undermine the agency’s Russia investigation. His
firing led to Mueller’s appointment to take over the FBI probe and is central
to whether Trump may have committed obstruction of justice.
Mueller also
asked the officials if Trump tried to shut down intelligence investigations
into Russian election meddling and into contacts between Russian officials
connected with President Vladimir Putin’s government and associates of Trump or
his campaign, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
Representatives
for the CIA declined to comment on whether Pompeo had been interviewed.
More than 20
White House personnel have voluntarily given interviews to Mueller’s team, Fox
News reported on Wednesday.
It is
unusual for FBI interviews to be conducted under oath, but even if Trump is not
interviewed by Mueller’s team under oath, it would still be a crime for him to
lie to federal agents, said Andrew Wright, a professor at Savannah Law School
and a former associate counsel to President Barack Obama.
That is the
charge to which former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and former
Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have both pleaded guilty.
An oath
would be administered if Mueller issues a subpoena for Trump to testify before
a grand jury as opposed to a private interview, Wright said.
In 1998,
charges that then-President Bill Clinton lied under oath to a federal grand
jury about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky help lead to his
impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives. Clinton was acquitted by the
U.S. Senate.
0 Comments