Trump irked by release of Mueller questions

WASHINGTON – President Trump protested a news report Tuesday about questions that special counsel Robert Mueller would like to ask him concerning Russian interference in the 2016 election.

While calling it “disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were ‘leaked’ to the media,” Trump also alluded to the fact that most of the potential queries deal with possible obstruction of justice rather than Russian hacking of Democrats during the campaign.

“No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see ... you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice!” Trump said in a early-morning tweet.

In fact, many of the Mueller questions as reported by The New York

Times do deal with what ties, if any, Trump may have had with Russians involved in hacking Democratic emails and pushing fake news. Other questions deal with claims of obstruction of justice, from the firing of FBI Director James Comey to talk of pardons for former aides who have been charged with crimes.

It’s possible the list of questions came from someone supportive of Trump. The New York Times did not name its source, saying only that a document “was provided to the Times by a person outside Mr. Trump’s legal team.”

Mueller “has at least four dozen questions on an exhaustive array of subjects he wants to ask President Trump to learn more about his ties to Russia and determine whether he obstructed the inquiry itself,” the Times reported.

The story broke as the Trump and Mueller teams are negotiating possible testimony from the president.