Giuliani: Comey off-limits in prez interview
WASHINGTON — As Donald Trump’s lawyers continue negotiating with Robert Mueller over a presidential interview, they say at least two topics remain off the table: the firing of FBI Director James Comey and Trump’s comments to Comey about his investigation of Michael Flynn.
If asked, the president would tell the special counsel that he didn’t urge Comey to stop investigating Flynn, his former national security adviser, and didn’t fire Comey to cut off his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, Rudy Giuliani said in an interview yesterday.
But the president’s personal lawyer said Trump’s advisers think Mueller wouldn’t believe him and would side instead with Comey. Mueller and Comey worked together at the FBI, and both are former directors of the bureau.
Both questions about whether Trump sought to obstruct justice in the Russia probe pose the same risk, Giuliani said: that Mueller could send a report to Congress concluding Trump had lied. That, Giuliani said, could lead to Trump’s impeachment if Democrats win control of the House of Representatives in the November elections.
“They know the answers to that,” Giuliani said of the obstruction questions. “Why are they seeking him to repeat it? The only reason we can surmise is they want to set up a contradiction between him and Comey, and their selection would be Comey as the person telling the truth.”
Trump’s lawyers sent a letter to Mueller on Wednesday with a counterproposal to terms for an interview that Mueller submitted to them last week, as the two sides near the final stages of more than seven months of negotiations over the scope of such an encounter. The latest proposal from the Trump team is close to a final offer, and there’s little room left for compromise, Giuliani said.
If Mueller refuses the restrictions sought by Trump’s advisers, the special counsel could seek a subpoena for Trump to testify before a grand jury. That could trigger a protracted constitutional fight that could go to the Supreme Court.
Giuliani said Trump was involved in formulating the strategy behind the latest letter and is up to speed on its contents. He said he may go to the president’s golf estate in Bedminster, N.J., to discuss the issue with him further.
Trump hasn’t begun preparing for a possible interview and won’t until a final decision is reached, Giuliani said.