WASHINGTON — Robert Mueller’s 448-page investigative report into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election includes 23 unredacted pages of Mueller’s written questions and Donald Trump’s written responses, the only direct exchange between the special counsel’s office and the president.
Mueller’s team writes that it tried to interview the president for more than a year before Trump submitted written testimony in response to questions on certain Russia-related topics in November 2018.
An introductory note included in the report said the special counsel’s office found the responses indicative of “the inadequacy of the written format,” especially given the office’s inability to ask follow-up questions.
Citing dozens of answers that Mueller’s team considered incomplete, imprecise or unable to be provided because of the president’s lack of recollections — for instance, the president gave no response at all to the final set of questions — the special counsel’s office again sought an in-person interview with Trump that he again declined.