WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday he had “very easily” answered written questions from special counsel Robert Mueller, though he speculated that the questions had been “tricked up” to try to catch him in a lie. He said he hadn’t submitted his answers to investigators yet.
“You have to always be careful when you answer questions with people that probably have bad intentions,” Trump told reporters in his latest swipe at the probe into 2016 election interference and possible ties between Moscow and the president’s campaign.
The president did not say when he would turn over the answers to Mueller, but his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, indicated it could happen next week. The special counsel has signaled a willingness to accept written answers on matters related to collusion with Russia. But Giuliani has said repeatedly the presisdent would not answer Mueller’s questions on possible obstruction of justice.
During months of negotiations with the special counsel office, Trump’s lawyers have counseled him against sitting down for an in-person interview.
Trump’s written response, though not yet delivered, signals a new phase in the Mueller probe, the year-and-a-half-long investigation that has produced guilty pleas and convictions from several top Trump aides even as the special counsel and the White House have engaged in lengthy negotiations about how — or if — the president would testify.
Though he spent hours with his attorneys, Trump insisted: “My lawyers don’t write answers, I write answers.”
The president’s remarks were fresh evidence of his return to the ominous rhythms of the Russia probe after spending heady weeks enjoying adulation-soaked campaign rallies before the midterm elections.
Despite Trump’s insistence Friday that he’s “very happy” with how things are going, his frustrations with the ongoing probe have been evident everywhere from his overheated Twitter feed this week to his private grousing that the special counsel may target his family. Adding to his grim outlook has been the barrage of criticism he’s getting over his choice for acting attorney general and late-arriving election results that have largely been tipping toward House Democrats.
“The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess,” Trump tweeted Thursday as part of a series of morning posts.
The president continued to maintain his innocence while launching new broadsides at the probe. He denied being “agitated” despite his outbursts the day before.
After a relative lull in the run-up to the midterms, the Russia probe has returned to the forefront of Washington conversation and cable news chyrons. There has been widespread media coverage of two Trump allies — Roger Stone and Jerome Corsi — who say they expect to be charged.
The president has expressed concerns behind closed doors that Mueller is closing in on his inner circle, including his eldest son.
Trump has told confidants he fears Donald Trump Jr., perhaps inadvertently, broke the law by being untruthful with investigators in the aftermath of a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer, according to one Republicans close to the White House.
