WaPo is reporting that Special Counsel Mueller wants to have a chat with President Trump:
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is seeking to question President Trump in the coming weeks about his decisions to oust national security adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James B. Comey, according to two people familiar with his plans.
Mueller’s interest in the events that led Trump to push out Flynn and Comey indicates that his investigation is intensifying its focus on possible efforts by the president or others to obstruct or blunt the special counsel’s probe.
Trump’s attorneys have crafted some negotiating terms for the president’s interview with Mueller’s team, one that could be presented to the special counsel as soon as next week, according to the two people.
Negotiating terms? I’m sorry, the President doesn’t get special treatment. We’re all equal before the law. Well, I suppose some sort of deal will be cut in order to get President under the bright lights.
I’m guessing that Mueller will be asking for Trump’s versions of certain events, such as the Comey firing, for comparison with the stories obtained from other witnesses, which includes Attorney General Sessions, who was interviewed very recently. Sessions was apparently the first Cabinet-level interviewee. Discrepancies might form the basis for subpoenas and even criminal proceedings, although whether that would be against President or the other witnesses will depend on the issue. And will honesty even figure into this interview?
Probably not.
The Trump advisors and lawyers are not happy about this, of course. But this remark made me laugh:
However, some of Trump’s close advisers and friends fear a face-to-face interview with Mueller could put the president in legal jeopardy. A central worry, they say, is Trump’s lack of precision in his speech and his penchant for hyperbole.
People close to Trump have tried to warn him for months that Mueller is a “killer,” in the words of one associate, noting that the special counsel has shown interest in the president’s actions.
Roger Stone, a longtime informal adviser to Trump, said he should try to avoid an interview at all costs, saying agreeing to such a session would be a “suicide mission.”
“I find it to be a death wish. Why would you walk into a perjury trap?” Stone said. “The president would be very poorly advised to give Mueller an interview.”
Wait, isn’t Trump a stable genius? Surely he can outwit a mere lawyer, GOP member, and former FBI director, no?
Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. I wonder if any reporters will be egging him on….
