Lawyers for President Trump have given special counsel Robert Mueller’s office written descriptions of specific events that are under investigation, with the goal of limiting any interview between the president and Mueller’s team, according to a report.
Sources told the Washington Post the president’s legal team provided Mueller’s office with the documents in hopes of narrowing the scope of an interview between Trump and Mueller to a few topics.
The president has reportedly told aides he is “champing at the bit” to meet with the special counsel, but his legal team is in the midst of negotiating the terms of such a session, according to the Washington Post.
Trump has frequently criticized Mueller’s investigation, describing it as a “witch hunt” and repeatedly claiming there was “no collusion” between his presidential campaign and Russia. The president named Mueller for the first time in tweets this weekend and suggested his assembled team of investigators is biased against him due to their political affiliations.
According to the Washington Post, Mueller’s team has honed in on two events that occurred during the course of Trump’s presidency: the firing of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
Trump’s lawyers have given Mueller’s office summaries of White House memos and correspondences related to the events Mueller is investigating, including the two firings. They’re also going over questions they believe the special counsel’s team will want to ask Trump.
Investigators for Mueller have told the president’s legal team their questions can be divided into two categories: “What did he do?” and “What was he thinking when he did it?”
Trump’s lawyers believe questions may be related to whether the president was aware of Flynn’s contacts with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the White House transition and whether Trump provided instructions to Flynn regarding the communications, according to the Washington Post.
Trump said he fired Flynn because he lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Kislyak, who was the Russian ambassador at the time.
John Dowd, one of Trump’s lawyers, did not comment on the documents turned over to the special counsel’s office.
“We have very constructive, productive communications with the special counsel and his colleagues,” Dowd told the Washington Post in an interview Friday.
“We’re blessed to have them,” he said of the discussions with Mueller’s team. “I think it’s helpful to them and of course I think it’s very helpful to us.”
