The Trump regime still refuses to let Donald Trump perjure himself in front of Mueller (the inevitable consequence of Trump opening his mouth under oath) so they're planning to have Trump's lawyers handle all of the testimony with written questions only.
President Donald Trump's legal team is preparing answers to written questions provided by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The move represents a major development after months of negotiations and signals that the Mueller investigation could be entering a final phase with regard to the President.
The questions are focused on matters related to the investigation of possible collusion between Trump associates and Russians seeking to meddle in the 2016 election, the sources said. Trump's lawyers are preparing written responses, in part relying on documents previously provided to the special counsel, the sources said.
"We are in continuing discussions with the special counsel and we do not comment on those discussions," said Trump attorney Jay Sekulow.
There may be more rounds of questions after the first answers are returned. The special counsel had insisted that there be a chance for follow-up questions as well. But after a prolonged back-and-forth over months, the two sides agreed to start with a first round of questions.
Additionally, the two sides have still not come to agreement on whether the President will be interviewed in person by investigators who are also probing whether Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey.
Asked on Thursday about answering Mueller's questions, Trump again signaled his willingness to sit down for an interview with Mueller or provide written responses -- the option much preferred by his attorneys.
The one thing going for Mueller is Trump's ego can't have him sitting by while his lawyers tell "his" side of the story, and I still expect Trump to sit for an interview simply based on his own narcissism. Especially after the questions are leaked to the press (and possible the answers) Trump will throw a fit and declare he's not afraid of Mueller.
The problem of course is that he should be pissing himself in abject fear of an interview with Mueller, because as I said at the outset, the odds of Trump perjuring himself, lying to the FBI, or revealing startling new evidence is about 3,267,098%.
We'll see what happens, but Trump is definitely going to want this done before a new Democratic-controlled House is sworn in next January., one way or the other.
Stay tuned.
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