Written responses to be sent to Mueller soon: Trump

US president says he very easily answered questions in special counsel’s inquiry

US President Donald Trump says he “very easily” answered written questions from special counsel Robert Mueller, though he speculated that the questions had been “tricked up” to try to catch him in a lie.

“They’re all done,” Trump told reporters at the White House early yesterday, before leaving for California, adding that his responses will soon be submitted to Mueller’s team.

“We do that next week,” he said, in what signals a new phase of the inquiry.

In a jibe the day before at the investigation into 2016 election interference and possible ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign, the president said that “you have to always be careful when you answer questions with people that probably have bad intentions.”

Mueller has signalled willingness to accept written answers on the matter. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has said repeatedly the president would not answer Mueller’s questions on possible obstruction of justice.

During months of negotiations with the special counsel office, Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly counselled the president against sitting down for an in-person interview.

Mueller’s year-and-a-halflong investigation has produced guilty pleas and convictions from several Trump aides even as the special counsel and White House debate how — or if — the president would testify.