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US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump said yesterday that he “would love to” be questioned under oath by Russia collusion prosecutor Robert Mueller, adding it could happen in the coming weeks.
Trump confirmed that his lawyers were in discussion with Mueller, who is leading the investigation into allegations of collusion between the US president’s campaign and Russia in the 2016 election, and also into accusations that Trump tried to obstruct his probe.
“I would love to do it,” Trump told reporters in the White House when asked about testifying.
“I would like to do it as soon as possible… subject to my lawyers and all of that.”
“I would do it under oath, absolutely,” he added.
Asked when an interview could happen, Trump replied that he didn’t know exactly.
“Yesterday, they were talking about two or three weeks,” he said.
It was the first time Trump said directly that he would cooperate with Mueller, whose investigation he has repeatedly dismissed as being based on “fake news”.
“There has been no collusion whatsoever. There is no obstruction whatsoever,” he said yesterday.
Executive privilege
But any interview of a US president in an investigation is fraught with issues of executive privilege – how much and in what context the US leader can be forced to disclose information.
In Trump’s case, it also raises deep concerns that his shoot-from-the-hip outspokenness could jeopardize his own legal position.
White House lawyer Ty Cobb later seemed to walk back Trump’s remarks, saying the president just meant that he was willing to meet, The New York Times reported.
“He’s ready to meet with them, but he’ll be guided by the advice of his personal counsel,” the newspaper quoted Cobb as saying.
Cobb has repeatedly said that the president is willing to testify to Mueller’s investigation, and wants Mueller to wind up the case as early as possible.
Mueller is believed to be focusing on whether Trump illegally interfered with the Russia investigation, particularly when he fired FBI director James Comey last year.
Mueller, himself a former FBI director, is also examining the extent of communications between Russians and Trump campaign officials.
Those include a meeting in June 2016 between Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer who had allegedly offered them dirt on Trump’s election rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
He has already issued indictments for four people from the campaign, securing guilty pleas from two: former national security advisor Michael Flynn, and former foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos, both for making false statements.
Circling the White House
Mueller’s investigators have been edging steadily closer to the White House, last week interviewing Attorney General Jeff Sessions – who was a top Trump campaign official and had three meetings in 2016 with Russia’s US ambassador, Sergei Kislyak.
He has interviewed Comey and other former officials, and is reportedly going to interview former White House strategist Steve Bannon in the coming days.
The form of a Mueller interview with the president still needs to be negotiated – whether it is face-to-face, or in writing, or a mix.
Trump told reporters yesterday he would listen to his lawyers’ advice on how to proceed. Asked if he thought Mueller would be fair, he replied:
We are going to find out… I hope so.
But the case might not be cleared easily. Trump’s repeated tweets attacking Comey and the FBI have added to suspicions that he has sought to stymie the Mueller investigation.
On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that Trump had pressed Comey’s temporary replacement, FBI deputy director and Comey loyalist Andrew McCabe, to tell him who he voted for in the 2016 election.
Since then, Trump has pressured the current FBI chief, Christopher Wray, to fire McCabe.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders dismissed The Post’s report on the Trump-McCabe exchange by saying she doubts “any person in America” cares about it.
That sparked a mass rebuttal on Twitter by Trump critics declaring they do care, using the hashtag #onewhodoes.
The US president is travelling to Davos this today to the World Economic Forum.
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Mains pipes in Limerick must be in a bad way. I work on the Ballysimon Road in Limerick and the amount of times the mains pipe on this road has burst is nuts.
By the looks of that pipe I bet the Romans had a better water supply.
Well done limerick country council great work getting the water supply back on do quick
Goebong.
Am I reading your comment correct?
Are you congragulating Limerick CITY council for actually doing the job they are being paid to do?
Yes they done a great job water back on within hours great job people could have had no water all day
Goebung
Thanks for confirming that we need to congragulate council workers for actually working.
So what do want to give out to them for doing a good job stop being so negative
Goebung
Dont worry this time next year when their all transfered to Irish Water they will be too busy fixing water meters to have time to fix leaks, then you’ll be giving out.
It probably was a roman made pipe from roman times
Is that a stock photo of some pipe that leaked or a photo of water pipes typical of Limerick?
Robert
That is a stock photo. Howeveer it could also be a photo of typical water pipes anywhere in the country. Some water pipes have been repaired so often the councils would have paid 10 times less to actually replace them altogether.
That’s the council “engineers” for you
The pipe wil need to be fixed and stay fixed, as all the wh0res will need their weekly wash after the weekend
I guess the customers don’t wash at all?
Bit of plumbers mate… She’ll be grand….!
Do they use wooden pipes as in pic?
Pipes my side spear to burst a lot as well as the water is often off for repairs.
have your say