President Trump told reporters late Wednesday that he’s ‘looking forward’ to being interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Mueller, according to reporting from the Washington Post, wants to interview the president within weeks.
Mueller, who is in charge of the Russia probe, wants to ask the president about his decisions to oust former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who has since been indicted, and former FBI Director James Comey.
This news comes after the revelation that Mueller sat down with Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for hours and, additionally, spent time interviewing the fired Comey last month.
President Trump (left) is expected to sit down and talk to Special Counsel Robert Mueller (right) as part of the ongoing Russia investigation, the Washington Post reported Tuesday
Also on Tuesday the news broke that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team had questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions (pictured) for hours
All of these interviews suggest Mueller is looking into the president’s actions to handicap the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, including whether there was collusion with the Trump campaign.
The Justice Department on Tuesday confirmed Sessions spoke to investigators.
The New York Times reported the interview went on for several hours.
For Trump’s turn at bat, his legal team would like his testimony to be in hybrid form, with the president appearing for an interview, but also answering questions in writing, the Washington Post learned.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday about the Sessions news, Trump said, ‘I’m not at all concerned.’
He also said he and the nation’s top law enforcement officer didn’t talk about the probe when they met Monday at the White House.
‘No. I didn’t but I’m not at all concerned,’ Trump said.
The Times also reported that former FBI Director James Comey came in to talk to Mueller’s team late last year.
Trump also denied that FBI Director Christopher Wray had threatened to resign over pressure from Sessions to remove Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who Trump has criticized on Twitter.
‘He didn’t at all. He did not even a little bit, nope,’ Trump said when asked about the reports.
Axios, which reported the threat, said Tuesday that it was Sessions who applied the private pressure for McCabe to go.
Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe, after it was revealed he had undisclosed meetings with Russia’s former ambassador to the U.S. while serving as a U.S. senator and a member of Trump’s campaign team.
After his recusal, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein named Mueller as special counsel to head the inquiry.
In addition to probing Russian interference in the presidential election, Mueller is investigating whether any obstruction of justice occurred.
The line of inquiry has led investigators to reconstruct in detail what led to President Trump’s decision to fire Comey.
Sessions was an important part of the decision, and the White House released a memo from Sessions justifying the decision.
Sessions wrote that a ‘fresh start’ was needed and recommended Comey’s removal.
Sessions is believed to be first cabinet member to be called in for an interview.
Sessions is the first cabinet member to be called in for an interview. He visited the White House on Monday
CNN reported that Sessions visited the White House Monday and met with President Trump.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether the two men discussed the case or Sessions’ meeting with investigators.
On Tuesday morning, Trump unloaded on the FBI, bringing up the case of two FBI officials who disparaged him in text messages during the election. The FBI officials were having an affair, and text messages between them were released – although others have gone missing.
‘In one of the biggest stories in a long time, the FBI now says it is missing five months worth of lovers Strzok-Page texts, perhaps 50,000, and all in prime time. Wow!’ he tweeted.
President Donald Trump put the spotlight Tuesday back on two FBI officials who disparaged him in text messages prior to the presidential election and whom he’d previously accused of ‘treason’
The Justice Department last week revealed a critical gap in messages between Peter Strzok, a counterintelligence agent who worked on Hillary Clinton’s email case, and Lisa Page, an agent who worked with Strzok for a time on the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference.
Texts the pair sent each other between December 14, 2017 and May 17, 2017 are missing, the department informed Congress.
The Associated Press reported that Trump was overstating the number of missing texts between them.
The Justice Department says the 50,000 figure refers to the overall number of messages found on FBI servers.
The Justice Department last week revealed a critical gap in messages between Peter Strzok, a counterintelligence agent who worked on Hillary Clinton’s email case, and Lisa Page, an agent who worked with Strzok for a time on the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference
Sessions has been grilled in Congress about his contacts with Russia’s former ambassador to the U.S.
Mueller’s team subpoenaed former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon to appear before a Grand Jury, but Bannon instead negotiated to instead come in for an interview.
Sessions testified in November about his meetings with Sergei Kislyak, Russia’s former ambassador to the U.S., something he did not list on government forms when he was nominated to be attorney general.
‘I did meet once in my office with Kislyak and I do not recall and don’t believe I communicated any of that information to [former national security advisor Mike] Flynn,’ Sessions said.
Sessions has been grilled in Congress about his contacts with Russia’s former ambassador to the U.S., Sergei Kislyak
Trump was reportedly furious at Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe, and publicly went after him on Twitter.
Trump tweeted in July: ‘Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!”
Trump told the New York Times he would not have nominated Sessions, a key advisor during his campaign, if he had known he would recuse himself.
White House spokeswman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News last year, ‘Look, I know that he is frustrated and certainly disappointed in the attorney general for recusing himself.’
During an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last year, Sessions repeatedly said ‘I don’t recall.’ New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said Sessions had used a variant of the phrase more than 85 times.
Sessions told the panel in November he now recalled meeting former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, was pled guilty to lying to FBI investigators. Sessions has stated emphatically that he did not lie under oath when he said he was unaware of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians during the campaign.
‘I do now recall the March 2016 meeting at Trump Hotel that Mr. Papadopoulos attended, but I have no clear recollection of the details of what he said during that meeting,’ Sessions said.