[ad_1]
NEW YORK (AP) – President Donald Trump will not respond, in writing or in person, to questions from federal investigators as to whether he tried to block the investigation into Russian interference during The 2016 elections, said Thursday to the Associated Press one of the president's attorneys.
Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said the issues of obstruction of justice were "prohibited".
Giuliani's statement was the most definitive rejection of the efforts of Special Adviser Robert Mueller to question the President about any effort to hinder the investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russians. He reported that Trump's lawyers pledged to prevent the president from answering questions about the president's actions.
It is unclear whether Giuliani's public position was approved by Trump, who said he wanted to answer questions under oath. Negotiations on the scope and format of an interview are still ongoing. If the legal team maintains its position, it could force Mueller to attempt to summon the president, which would likely trigger a confrontation leading to the Supreme Court.
Mueller's office had previously sought to question the president about the problem of obstruction, including his dismissal last year of former FBI director James Comey and his public attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump's legal team argued that the president had the power to engage and dismiss the appointees, and that the special advocate does not have the power to ask him to explain those decisions. Giuliani said Thursday that the team was unshakable in this position.
"It's a no-go. That will not happen, "Giuliani said. "There will be no questions at all about the obstruction."
In a letter last week, Mueller's team said it would accept written answers from Trump on issues related to Russian electoral interference. Giuliani suggested Thursday that Trump's lawyers had accepted the conditions but wanted to forbid investigators from asking additional questions.
"It would be in written form and if you want to respond to our answers, justify it. Show us why you did not arrive the first time, "said Giuliani. He stated that he did not categorically rule out answering a second set of questions, but that the whole question of whether there would be follow-up inquiries should be settled before the president would answer at all.
"We will not let them send it to us," said Giuliani, who was a lawyer-spokesperson for the president's personal legal team, using television interviews and public comment as tactics in the negotiations.
In the last letter to the legal team, Mueller's office did not respond to the obstruction questions, stating that the investigators will later assess the additional information he needs after receiving a response regarding the written submissions.
The person familiar with the letter spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to publicly discuss the negotiations.
Although the president has publicly stated that he is eager to answer Mueller's questions, his lawyers have been much more reluctant to make him available for an interview and wondered if Mueller had the right to ask him for any actions. under the Constitution. , take as president.
Mueller's team raised in March the possibility of summoning the president to appear, which would undoubtedly lead to a trial.
The Supreme Court never ruled definitively on the issue of whether a president may be compelled to testify, although the judges decided in 1974 that Richard Nixon should produce records and documents that had been assigned.
In addition to questions about Comey and Sessions, Mueller expressed interest in Trump's role in writing a statement to the New York Times about a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with his son Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer .
Trump Jr. took the meeting, e-mails show, after he was described as part of a Russian government effort to help his father's campaign by providing derogatory information on Democratic Hillary Clinton.
Trump said that he knew nothing about the meeting before it happened.
Trump and Giuliani carried out attacks against Mueller's credibility, saying that the special council was biased and the whole investigation was a "witch hunt". Giuliani also asked the investigation to suspend its activities The former mayor said Thursday that he was not certain of Mueller's intentions.
Associated Press editors Eric Tucker and Chad Day reported in Washington.
Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire
[ad_2]
Source link
