President Donald Trump is working on written answers to questions from special counsel Robert Mueller while his legal team is reviewing them, he told reporters in the Oval Office Friday.
Trump told reporters he was working on his answers and bristled at the idea that his lawyers were writing his answers for him, saying, “My lawyers are not working on that. I’m working on that. My lawyers don’t write answers — I write answers. I was asked a series of questions. I answered them very easily.”
Trump continued that he was wary of perjury traps from Mueller’s team, saying, “I’m sure they are tripped up because they like to catch people with questions … You have to answer carefully with people who have bad intentions.”
Robert Mueller testifies before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Federal Bureau of Investigation oversight on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., June 13, 2013. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
The president added that he is not yet submitted his answers to the special counsel. “They were my answers and I don’t need lawyers to do that. Now, you need the lawyers to go over some of the answers, but they were not very difficult questions,” he declared.
Trump and his lawyers have been engaged in a months-long fight with the special counsel over the format of answering questions. Mueller and his team originally wanted Trump to submit to an oral interview, to which the president’s legal team demurred.
Trump has agreed now to answer questions from Mueller’s team but only under the condition that they pertain to potential collusion with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign.