Trump could face grand jury subpoena in Russia affair
THE SPECIAL counsel leading the Russian collusion investigation raised the prospect of issuing a grand jury subpoena for US president Donald Trump, his former attorney said, confirming that investigators have floated the extraordinary idea of forcing a sitting president to testify under oath.
Attorney John Dowd said special counsel Robert Mueller’s team broached the subject in March during a meeting with Mr Trump’s legal team while they were negotiating the terms of a possible interview with the president.
It was not immediately clear in what context the possibility of a subpoena was raised, or how serious Mr Mueller’s prosecutors were about the move.
Mr Mueller is probing not only Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates, but possible obstruction of justice by the president.
Mr Trump lashed out against the investigation in a familiar fashion, saying on Twitter: “There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax) and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup & trap).”
Even if Mr Mueller’s team decided to subpoena Mr Trump as part of the investigation, he could still fight it in court or refuse to answer questions by invoking his Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination.
Mr Dowd’s comments come more than a month after he resigned from the legal team, and they provide a new window into the nature of Trump lawyers’ interactions with the special counsel, whom the president has increasingly tried to undermine through public attacks.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump said it was “disgraceful” that a list of proposed questions drafted in response to Mr Mueller’s negotiations with the legal team was “leaked” to the media.
About four dozen questions were compiled by Mr Trump’s lawyers during the negotiations with Mr Mueller’s investigators earlier this year over the prospect of a presidential interview.