Rudy Giuliani says the president's legal team has not yet prepared him for a possible interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
CNN:
The former New York City mayor added that he's informally asked Trump specific questions about the matter.
Giuliani said the discussions about preparing the President were merely a precaution at this point and dismissed a suggestion that the discussions meant an interview with Mueller is happening.
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"Look, you never know. It sharpens up all our answers then," Giuliani told CNN about informally prepping the President. "Then we're not guessing at what the President knows. We know whether to say it or not."
Giuliani claims that formal negotiations with the special counsel are not happening at the moment because both sides are focusing on other pressing matters, but CNN points out that may not be true.
According to Giuliani, real negotiations with the Mueller team about a potential interview are not currently happening in earnest because the special counsel's team is tied up in Virginia federal court over a case involving Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, while Trump also is focused on North Korea and Iran.
There is no indication, however, that the entire Mueller team is devoted to the Manafort case or that it would impede preparations for a Trump interview. Only two trial attorneys from Mueller's office, Andrew Weissmann and Greg Andres, and two appellate lawyers have been in court prosecuting Manafort's Virginia case, while Mueller's team has 17 total lawyers on staff. A prosecutor from Northern Virginia's US Attorney's Office is also assisting on the case.
Giuliani says it will take him two or three days to prepare the president, and he just cannot ask Trump to take that kind of time and focus away from foreign affairs.
Giuliani appears to be borrowing an argument used by attorneys for then-President Bill Clinton. When independent counsel Ken Starr pursued questions about Monica Lewinsky from Clinton, the President's lawyers delayed his testimony because of pressing foreign relations issues. Clinton used meetings with the British Prime Minister, instability in Iraq and a foreign travel schedule to hold off the grand jury interview for six months until prosecutors subpoenaed the President.
Giuliani says Trump's new legal team has not held lengthy prep for Mueller interview (CNN)