Trump lawyers fear meeting Mueller
UNITED STATES: Lawyers for Donald Trump are confident he was not involved in any collusion with Russia but fear his presidency is in danger because he is ‘‘incapable of telling the truth’’. Trump’s private legal team is working overtime to persuade him that he should not agree to be interviewed by Robert Mueller, the special counsel whose investigation began with allegations of collusion but has spread into almost every aspect of his presidency.
‘‘They believe it would be legal and political suicide,’’ said a senior Republican with close ties to the White House. ‘‘Mueller wants to get his scalp and the clearest path to that is catching President Trump in a lie, perhaps on a peripheral matter.’’
On Friday, the president dismissed as ‘‘fake news’’ a New York Times report that in June he tried to fire Mueller, a month after sacking James Comey, the FBI director, but was thwarted by his White House legal adviser, Donald McGahn. The president has grown increasingly impatient with how long the investigation is taking and told aides he believes talking to the special counsel would draw a line under the affair. Trump said last week that he wanted to be interviewed by Mueller, adding: ‘‘I’m looking forward to it actually.’’
The senior Republican said: ‘‘ The problem is that Trump’s lawyers believe that he is incapable of telling the truth. It’s not that he knowingly lies but that he occupies an alternate reality. What he says and believes is often different from the demonstrable facts of what happened. He creates his own truth.’’
This is a big problem for Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, and Ty Cobb, who was brought in to deal with the response to the Russian inquiry. They are Washington veterans who know Mueller and are keenly aware of the problems of overconfident clients thinking they can outwit a wily investigator.
Cobb acknowledged last week that Trump was ‘‘very eager’’ to meet Mueller’s investigators and ‘‘put the matter to rest’’. He confirmed that ‘‘active discussions’’ regarding a Trump-Mueller interview were taking place.
The lawyer told CBS: ‘‘I would hope that a fair-minded office of the special counsel would approach it in a dutiful way consistent with precedent and it wouldn’t be a mere perjury trap.’’
Lying under oath carries a punishment of up to five years in prison. In his book The Art of the Deal, Trump boasted about stretching the truth. ‘‘I call it truthful hyperbole,’’ he wrote. ‘‘It’s an innocent form of exaggeration - and a very effective form of promotion.’’
The senior Republican said: ‘‘Trump’s self-confidence knows no bounds. He loathes the FBI, believes he has evidence the bureau has plotted his demise and views Mueller [who was FBI director from 2001 to 2013] as an FBI man to his core.’’
The president’s suspicions have been fuelled by claims that a ‘‘secret society’’ within the bureau is plotting his downfall. Leaked texts between two senior FBI officers, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who both briefly worked on the Mueller inquiry, included disparaging references to Trump and - on the day after his election victory - to ‘‘the first meeting of the secret society’’.
While this appears to have been a joke between the two officers, who were reportedly lovers, this has not stopped Republicans and Trump supporters from seeing a nefarious conspiracy.
The senior Republican said: ‘‘All this feeds into President Trump’s sense of grievance. It fuels his desire to confront Mueller and put him in his place.’’ - Sunday Times