President Trump's legal team has been preparing for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to press for a face-to-face interview with Trump since former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was indicted in October, NBC News reports, and they're discussing several proposals to avoid such a sit-down. Trump lawyers Ty Cobb, John Dowd, and Jay Sekulow are seeking guidance on whether Mueller himself would interview Trump as part of his investigation into Trump's campaign and Russian election meddling, where such an interview would take place, for how long, and which topics would be covered, but they would prefer "potential compromises that could avoid an interview altogether," two people familiar with the matter told NBC News.
One idea reportedly under consideration would be having Trump submit written answers to Mueller's questions, and "another possibility being contemplated was an affidavit signed by the president affirming he was innocent of any wrongdoing and denying any collusion," NBC News reports. "It was not clear what such an affidavit might state regarding the president's firing of former FBI Director James Comey in May 2017 at a time when Comey was leading the Russia probe." Former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg told NBC that "the odds of prosecutors agreeing to written responses are somewhere between infinitesimally small and zero," while defense attorney Alan Dershowitz said he didn't blame Trump's lawyers for trying.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Today's political cartoons - December 22, 2024Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - the long and short of it, trigger finger, and more
-
5 hilariously spirited cartoons about the spirit of ChristmasCartoons Artists take on excuses, pardons, and more
-
Inside the house of AssadThe Explainer Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, ruled Syria for more than half a century but how did one family achieve and maintain power?
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
