Mueller seeks to question Trump

Topic would likely be Flynn, Comey oustings

WASHINGTON • Special Counsel Robert Mueller is seeking to question President Donald Trump in the coming weeks about his decisions to oust national security adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James Comey, according to two people familiar with his plans.

Mueller’s interest in the events that led Trump to push out Flynn and Comey indicates his investigation is intensifying its focus on possible efforts by the president or others to obstruct or blunt the special counsel’s probe.

Trump’s attorneys have crafted some negotiating terms for the president’s interview with Mueller’s team, one that could be presented to the special counsel as soon as next week, according to the two people.

The president’s legal team hopes to provide Trump’s testimony in a hybrid form — answering some questions in a face-to-face interview and others in a written statement.

Those discussions come amid signs of stepped-up activity by the special counsel. Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interviewed for several hours by Mueller’s investigators, according to Justice Department officials.

A spokesman for the special counsel’s office, Peter Carr, declined to comment. A White House spokesman referred questions to the president’s legal team. Two attorneys for Trump, Jay Sekulow and John Dowd, declined to comment.

Within the past two weeks, the special counsel’s office has indicated to the White House that the two central subjects investigators wish to discuss with the president are the departures of Flynn and Comey and the events surrounding their firings.

Flynn resigned last February after The Washington Post reported he misled vice-president Mike Pence and other administration officials about his communications with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.

Late last year, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. Trump then tweeted he “had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the VicePresident and the FBI.” Previously, the White House cited only the false statements to Pence as a rationale for dismissing Flynn.

Trump fired Comey in May, several days after the then-FBI director told Congress he could not comment on whether there was evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Comey later testified Trump asked him several months earlier whether he could see a way to “letting Flynn go.”

Mueller also interviewed Comey last year, the New York Times reported Tuesday. The interview focused on a series of memos Comey wrote about his interactions with Trump, the Times said.

Mueller has also expressed interest in Trump’s efforts to remove Sessions as attorney general or pressure him into quitting, according to a person familiar with the probe who said the special counsel was seeking to determine whether there was a “pattern” of behaviour by the president.

As attorney general, Sessions was involved in firing Comey, and the president has repeatedly criticized Sessions publicly and privately for recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

Earlier this month, Trump declined to say whether he would grant an interview to Mueller and his team, deflecting questions on the topic by saying there had been “no collusion” between his campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump said when asked directly about meeting with the special counsel.

Behind the scenes, Trump has told his team of lawyers he is not worried about being interviewed, because he has done nothing wrong, according to people familiar with his views.

However, some of Trump’s close advisers and friends fear a face-to-face interview with Mueller could put the president in legal jeopardy. A central worry, they say, is Trump’s lack of precision in his speech and his penchant for hyperbole.

Roger Stone, a longtime informal adviser to Trump, said agreeing to such a session would be a “suicide mission.”

“I find it to be a death wish. Why would you walk into a perjury trap?” Stone said.