Trump’s lawyers warn him vs Mueller interview
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for US President Donald Trump have advised him against sitting down for a wideranging interview with the special counsel, Robert Mueller, according to four people briefed on the matter, raising the specter of a monthslong court battle over whether the president must answer questions under oath.
His lawyers are concerned that the president, who has a history of making false statements and contradicting himself, could be charged with lying to investigators.
Their stance puts them at odds with Trump, who has said publicly and privately that he is eager to speak with Mueller as part of the investigation into possible ties between his associates and Russia’s election interference, and whether he obstructed justice.
Trump’s decision about whether to speak to prosecutors, expected in the coming weeks, will shape one of the most consequential moments of the investigation.
Refusing to sit for an interview opens the possibility that Mueller will subpoena the president to testify before a grand jury, setting up a court fight that would dramatically escalate the investigation and could be decided by the Supreme Court.
Rejecting an interview with Mueller also carries political consequences. It would be cer- tain to prompt accusations that the president is hiding something, and a court fight could prolong the special counsel inquiry, casting a shadow over Republicans as November’s midterm elections approach or beyond into the president’s re-election campaign.
But John Dowd, the longtime Washington defense lawyer hired last summer to represent Trump in the investigation, wants to rebuff an interview request, as do Dowd’s deputy, Jay Sekulow, and many West Wing advisers, according to the four people.
The lawyers and aides believe the special counsel might be unwilling to subpoena the president and set off a showdown with the White House that Mueller could lose in court.
They are convinced that Mueller lacks the legal standing to question Trump about some of the matters he is investigating, like the president’s role in providing a misleading response last summer to a New
York Times story about a meeting Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. had with Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.
The advisers have also argued that on other matters — like the allegations that the president asked the former FBI director James Comey to end the investigation into the former national security adviser Michael Flynn — the president acted within his constitutional authority and cannot be questioned about acts that were legal.