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The date had been chosen, the place too, and the plan was traced: President Donald Trump would be driven from the White House to Camp David on a calm winter Saturday to answer the team's questions. Special advocate Robert Mueller.
But as the January 27, 2018 date approaches and when Mueller provided the topics he wanted to address, Trump's lawyers hesitated. Lawyer John Dowd then fired a burning letter challenging Mueller's power to question the president. The interview was off.
Nearly a year later, Trump still has not spoken directly to the Mueller team – and could never be it. Through private letters, tense meetings and considerable public pronouncements, the president's attorneys engaged in a tortured come and go with the special advocate to prevent the president from being arrested. sit face to face with enormous political and legal consequences. .
The protracted bargain testifies to the big issues for Trump, Mueller's investigation into his campaign and presidency. Any questioning of a president in a criminal investigation puts the limit of executive power to the test. The consignation of this president also puts to the test his ability to stick to the facts and to a constitutional confrontation.
The process has come a long way this week when Trump's lawyers handed over the president's written answers to some of Mueller's questions. This arrangement was a difficult compromise. Trump only responded to questions about Russia's interference in the 2016 election and not about whether he had tried to prevent the "deadly". wider investigation into possible coordination between Russia and its presidential campaign. It is not clear if Mueller intends to ask for more – in writing or in person.
Special Council spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment.
Even these written answers were months in the making.
In the months following Mueller's appointment in May 2017, the White House is committed to cooperating, believing that it was the fastest way to close the investigation. The administration produced thousands of documents requested by the special council and provided Trump's close associates, including his legal adviser, his chief of staff and his press officer, to the hearing. White House lawyer Ty Cobb predicted that the investigation could be completed by the end of the year.
But it soon became clear that Mueller would want to interrogate Trump, given his involvement in several supervised events. The president had fired FBI director James Comey, harangued his attorney general after his recusation of the investigation over Russia and dictated a misleading statement about a meeting of the Trump Tower that would involve his son and a lawyer linked to the Kremlin.
But Trump's lawyers, Dowd and Jay Sekulow, acted prudently.
It was learned that the president was last questioned in a criminal investigation almost 15 years ago and no commander-in-chief has been summoned to appear before a grand jury since 1998, when President Bill Clinton had been summoned in the Whitewater case. Trump's lawyers were aware that such an interview would be a shambles for a president who often misrepresents the facts. They did everything they could to avoid it, even though it might lead to resisting a subpoena and provoking a judicial battle against the presidential power.
But first, they tried to respond to a request. Trump's lawyers exposed a bold constitutional argument by stating that they regarded his actions as president outside the prosecutor's limits. Mueller did not have the right to question the president on any of his decisions made at the White House, they argued, asserting that any outside review of those choices would limit the executive powers of the president.
At the same time, they worked to undermine Mueller's case if he chose to challenge this argument. They provided a wealth of White House documents on key moments of the investigation in the hope of denying any allegation that he could only get the information he needed by interviewing Trump, according to reports. people familiar with the strategy.
Trump had other projects.
While his lawyers were plotting to oppose any interview, he asked for one, persuaded that it would exonerate him. In January, he attended a briefing with Chief of Staff John Kelly, and insisted he was eager to talk to Mueller. He could do it in weeks, he said, "subject to my lawyers and all that."
"I'd like to do that – I'd like to do it as soon as possible," Trump said.
What he did not mention, is that his lawyers had already discussed and scuttled the scheduled interview with Mueller. This process had even begun to discuss logistics with Kelly, who explained to him how White House officials could get in and out of people without the press knowing it.
But interest declined after Mueller's team attorney, James Quarles, dictated over the phone 16 topics that Mueller wanted to cover, including Trump's interactions with Comey, his acquaintance with the film. interview of the National Security Advisor with the FBI and his involvement in the Trump Tower statement. Dowd replied that all the answers were in the documents and witness statements provided to Mueller. He then canceled the interview and a few days later, he wrote a courageous letter challenging the merits of the interview and offering many explanations of the incidents in question.
The investigation was "a considerable burden for the president and his office, endangered the security of our country and hindered the president's ability to govern domestically and direct foreign affairs," Dowd wrote.
In the following months, Trump told some of his closest confidants that he still wanted to interview Mueller, according to four White House officials and Republicans close to the White House who requested anonymity because that they were not allowed to discuss private conversations in public. The President repeatedly said that he had done nothing wrong and believed he could convince Mueller of that.
He told a confidant last spring that he was frustrated, that his lawyers did not believe that he should do it and that he did not understand what was taking so long, according to a Republican in contact with the White House.
Tensions were visible at a meeting in March where Dowd and Sekulow met with Mueller to discuss the need for an interview. Mueller stated that he needed to know if Trump had had a "bribery intent" when he had dismissed Comey, for example by attempting to prevent the investigation, according to a person familiar with the meeting. . Dowd responded that the question was ridiculous and that the answer was obviously no. Investigators at the same meeting raised the possibility of a subpoena if Trump did not cooperate, said Dowd.
Later that month, Mueller's team produced its most detailed list of questions to date – dozens, in different categories, from the time Trump was a candidate, throughout the transition period and until his presidency.
Trump's own opinions soon began to change. He had his first fears in mid-April after the FBI raids on his personal attorney Michael Cohen, thinking that they were a sign that he could "not trust" Mueller, according to the report. 39, a Republican close to Trump who spoke with the PA.
While Rudy Giuliani joined Trump's legal team in April, the White House adopted a new strategy: dragging the drama of the interview for months and using that time to bolster attacks on Mueller's credibility and complaints about the cost and duration of the investigation, according to officials and advisers familiar with the strategy.
Giuliani led the charge. His scattered arguments sometimes frustrated others in the White House, as he frequently moved the goalposts over what would be needed for an interview. But the effect was to ensure that the process drags on longer.
Meanwhile, Trump continued to complain about the investigation even as his lawyers quietly negotiated proper terms of care.
A breakthrough occurred earlier this fall when Mueller's team said it would accept written responses regarding the interference and collusion in the elections in Russia. The concession guaranteed that Mueller would get at least one written answer from Trump. Prosecutors asked questions about the obstruction, reserving the right to return to this area later.
Giuliani seemed to exclude the upcoming dialogue on Tuesday, saying: "It is time to complete this investigation."
Whether Mueller agrees or not, that's another story.
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