According to CNN, President Trump's lawyers are working on written answers to some of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's questions, a move that may be just a small step forward as negotiations over a Trump-Mueller sit-down interview continue.
The questions are focused on matters related to the investigation of possible collusion between Trump associates and Russians seeking to meddle in the 2016 election, the sources said. Trump's lawyers are preparing written responses, in part relying on documents previously provided to the special counsel, the sources said.
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There may be more rounds of questions after the first answers are returned. The special counsel had insisted that there be a chance for follow-up questions as well. But after a prolonged back-and-forth over months, the two sides agreed to start with a first round of questions.
Additionally, the two sides have still not come to agreement on whether the President will be interviewed in person by investigators who are also probing whether Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey.
On Fox & Friends Thursday morning, the president seemed open, again, to the possibility of answering questions himself.
"It seems ridiculous that I'd have to do it when everybody says there's no collusion, but I'll do what is necessary to get it over with," Trump said in a phone interview on Fox News. Despite Trump's insistence to the contrary, the possibility of collusion remains an open question in the ongoing investigation led by Mueller, who has not tipped his hand one way or the other.
Negotiations for Trump's testimony lasted for the better part of a year. The two sides nearly reached a deal in January for Trump to be questioned at the presidential retreat in rural Maryland, Camp David, only for talks to break down at the last minute. What followed was a series of letters and meetings -- some hostile -- in which Trump's lawyers raised objections and sought to limit any potential testimony.
For months, Mueller told Trump's lawyers that he needed to hear from the President to determine his intent on key events in the obstruction inquiry. During one tense session in March, Mueller raised the possibility of getting a subpoena to compel the President's testimony.
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Trump once publicly said he was "100%" willing to go under oath to answer questions about his decision to fire Comey, who led the original Russia investigation before Mueller was appointed.
The President eventually hired Rudy Giuliani to join his legal team, and the former New York mayor quickly took to the airwaves to defend Trump and attack Mueller. As Giuliani made the rounds on TV newscasts -- blasting the investigation as illegitimate -- Trump's other lawyers, Jane and Marty Raskin, carefully worked behind the scenes with Mueller's team to narrow the topics that Trump could be asked about.
Trump's lawyers preparing answers to Mueller's questions (CNN)