While President Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign remain under investigation over possible links to Russia, the president’s legal team has been told that Trump is not a target of the probe, officials said Wednesday. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is also preparing a report on his findings.
WASHINGTON — While President Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign remain under investigation over possible links to Russia, the president’s legal team has been told that Trump is not a target of the probe, officials said Wednesday.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is also preparing a report on his findings, including an obstruction of justice investigation that involved Trump, said two people familiar with the process, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Mueller’s office has kept Trump’s legal team informed of these developments as they negotiate the president’s possible testimony, the two sources said, adding that the communication about the president’s status occurred last month.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment.
The developments, first reported by the Washington Post, indicate that Trump’s testimony has become increasingly critical to prosecutors in their wide-ranging inquiry.
Trump has long maintained that he is not a target of the Russia investigation and that his campaign did not act in coordination with Russian officials.
Yet, Mueller’s team has secured cooperation agreements in the continuing investigation with key former members of his team, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign deputy Rick Gates.
Both had been charged with lying to the FBI and have pleaded guilty.
The ongoing negotiations for Trump’s testimony comes with the president’s legal team in apparent disarray.
Former lead counsel John Dowd, who resigned last month, had advised the president not to agree to an interview with Mueller’s prosecutors. Dowd’s differences with Trump prompted his departure.
Former federal prosecutor Joseph diGenova, a vocal critic of the Russia investigation in frequent appearances on Fox News, was announced as Dowd’s replacement.
But just as quickly, that decision was reversed when Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said that client conflicts required diGenova and his wife and law partner, Victoria Toensing, to withdraw.
Toensing represents Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for Trump’s legal team. He was interviewed by Mueller investigators regarding the actions of some administration members in crafting a statement about a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving campaign officials and a Russian lawyer who promised damaging information on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Corallo has said that he waived any conflict involving Toensing’s work for Trump. An official close to Trump’s team, however, said the president’s lawyers couldn’t get past the potential problems posed by the firm’s work on behalf of Corallo and Sam Clovis, a Trump campaign aide who also spoke with Mueller’s team.
While Trump is a subject of the investigation, as opposed to a “target,” allies of the president said he should not rest easy.
“It can easily flip to being a target in the blink of an eye,” said Michael Caputo, a former senior adviser on the Trump campaign . “The president and his lawyers need to continue to be vigilant.”
