Former FBI Director James Comey believes President Trump’s legal team has to be “very thoughtful” about a possible interview between Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller given that their client is “somebody who lies a lot.”
[Trump says he’d ‘love’ to talk to Mueller, but wants to be ‘treated fairly’]
“That doesn’t mean you don’t do it, and I actually believe as an American it’s very important that the president cooperate with an appropriate, lawful, disciplined federal investigation that touches on things of which he has material knowledge,” Comey told the Washington Post during an event Tuesday. “But you’d have to, as a lawyer, be very thoughtful about that and prepare your client to understand that this is one you cannot BS your way through. You must tell the truth.”
Trump’s lawyers are looking to decide by May 17, which is one year after Mueller was tapped to oversee the Russia investigation, whether the president will sit down for an interview with the special counsel.
Rudy Giuliani, who recently was added to Trump’s legal team, told the Wall Street Journal the president’s lawyers “swing a little different” each day on whether the president should testify in the Russia probe.
Trump has said he’s willing to speak with Mueller, and Giuliani said last week that an interview spanning “two to three hours” is possible if conditions are agreed to beforehand.
But Trump’s legal team is split on whether the president should sit down with Mueller, as doing so could open Trump up to legal risks but lead to a quicker end to the Russia probe.
Giuliani said Sunday he was “facing a situation, and all the other lawyers are, in which every lawyer in America thinks he would be a fool to testify.”
