Home United States USA — mix Trump Spoke to Witnesses About Their Interviews With Mueller: NYT

Trump Spoke to Witnesses About Their Interviews With Mueller: NYT

187
0
SHARE

Twice recently, President Trump has asked key witnesses in the Russia investigation about their conversations with special counsel Robert Mueller, three sources tell the New York Times. One alleged… Politics News Summaries.
(Newser)

Twice recently, President Trump has asked key witnesses in the Russia investigation about their conversations with special counsel Robert Mueller, three sources tell the New York Times. One alleged conversation involved White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II; Trump told an aide that McGahn should deny a January Times article that said Trump had asked McGahn to fire Mueller. McGahn didn’t deny it, and ultimately reminded Trump that he had, in fact, asked McGahn to contact Rod Rosenstein and make sure Mueller was dismissed. The other alleged conversation involved Reince Priebus; the sources say Trump asked his former chief of staff in December how his interview with Mueller’s investigators went and whether they were “nice.” Sources tell Fox News the latter conversation included “nothing” of substance and Trump just felt bad Priebus had been questioned for hours.
Fox’s sources also deny that Trump ever “ordered” McGahn to see Mueller fired; they say Trump simply directed McGahn to see what could be done about Mueller. But sources confirm the Times’ version of events to Politico. Legal experts tell the Times the conversations probably don’t meet the definition of witness tampering, but the paper notes that Trump appears to be ignoring advice from his lawyers that he should avoid appearing to interfere with Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s tampering with the 2016 US presidential election. Witnesses and lawyers who learned of the two conversations told Mueller, who is also investigating whether Trump attempted to obstruct the investigation, about them; the legal experts say Mueller will likely now direct an increased focus toward Trump’s interactions with witnesses in the investigation, and that the conversations with McGahn and Priebus could be used as evidence in a possible obstruction case.

Continue reading...