Trump's lawyers are reportedly mulling a Mueller interview with rules to limit Trump's perjury risk

Robert Mueller.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is plowing ahead in his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and any collaboration between Russia and President Trump's campaign. But while Mueller has indicted 13 Russians and three Kremlin-linked entities, extracted guilty pleas from a handful of Trump campaign officials — most recently former deputy campaign chairman and transition adviser Rick Gates — and interviewed numerous people close to Trump, he has not interviewed Trump himself. Trump's legal team is divided over the wisdom of allowing such an interview.

But now, Trump's lawyers are considering offering that the president testify before Muller if "the questions he faces are limited in scope and don't test his recollections in ways they say could unfairly trap him into perjuring himself," The Wall Street Journal reports, citing "a person familiar with his legal team's thinking." It is unclear if Mueller would accept these conditions, or any limits to the interview, but Trump's lawyers are concerned about letting their "freewheeling conversationalist" of a client face "skilled prosecutors armed with documents and witness testimony who have shown they are willing to indict people on perjury charges," the Journal notes.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.