The New York Times reports Special Counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to let President Trump answer some of his questions in writing, as negotiations between the two sides over an interview continue.
Mr. Mueller will accept written answers from Mr. Trump on questions about whether his campaign conspired with Russia’s election interference, Mr. Mueller’s office told the president’s lawyers in a letter, two people briefed on it said on Tuesday.
On another significant aspect of the investigation — whether the president tried to obstruct the inquiry itself — Mr. Mueller and his investigators understood that issues of executive privilege could complicate their pursuit of a presidential interview and did not ask for written responses on that matter, according to the letter, which was sent on Friday.
Mr. Mueller did not say that he was giving up on an interview altogether, including on questions of obstruction of justice. But the tone of the letter and the fact that the special counsel did not ask for written responses on obstruction prompted some Trump allies to conclude that if an interview takes place, its scope will be more limited than Mr. Trump’s legal team initially believed, the people said.
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Mr. Trump’s lawyers have tried to put off a formal interview; they have repeatedly said that to determine whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia’s election interference and whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct the inquiry, Mr. Mueller can find the answers in the interviews that his investigators have conducted with witnesses, including senior White House aides and administration officials, and more than 1.4 million documents turned over by the White House.
Contrary to his lawyer’s efforts, Mr. Trump has continued to insist to them and to aides that he wants to be questioned by Mr. Mueller. The president believes that he has done nothing wrong and that he can prove that and bring an end to the investigation.
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... In his new book “Fear,” the reporter Bob Woodward described a March meeting between John M. Dowd, then the head of Mr. Trump’s legal team, and Mr. Mueller and his deputies.
“I’m not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot,” Mr. Dowd told Mr. Mueller, according to the book, due out next week; The New York Times obtained a copy. “And you publish that transcript, because everything leaks in Washington, and the guys overseas are going to say, ‘I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?’”
The book said that Mr. Mueller told Mr. Dowd: “John, I understand.”
In the same meeting, Mr. Mueller and Mr. Dowd began arguing intensely, and Mr. Mueller threatened to subpoena the president.
Mr. Dowd told the president that if he sat for an interview, he would probably be charged with perjury and end up in an “orange jumpsuit,” according to Mr. Woodward.
“I’ll be a real good witness,” the president told Mr. Dowd, the book said.
“You are not a good witness,” Mr. Dowd told the president. “Mr. President, I’m afraid I just can’t help you.”
Mr. Dowd resigned from the team shortly after because he said he could not represent the president if he wanted to do the interview.
Mr. Dowd denied the account.
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Mr. Woodward said he stood by his reporting.