President Trump’s attorney said Sunday his legal team is leaning toward not having the president sit down for an interview under oath with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Jay Sekulow said the president’s the legal team is still having ongoing discussions about whether an interview should take place, but he added the president may or may not take his attorneys’ advice.
Mr. Trump has said he would like to talk to Mr. Mueller, who is investigating whether his campaign colluded with Russians during the 2016 election.
“His legal team is concerned,” Mr. Sekulow told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “The inclination is not at this point.”
Mr. Sekulow also said if Mr. Mueller were to subpoena Mr. Trump, the question over whether a sitting president could be subpoenaed by a special counsel would likely go before the Supreme Court since the question has never been tested in the courts.
“With the amount of cooperation that has gone forward it’s hard for us to see why they need the president’s testimony,” Mr. Sekulow said.
Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, said Mr. Mueller’s probe should run its course so the truth about Russian interference in America’s democracy can come out, but he defended the notion of the president not sitting down with the special counsel.
“There are plenty of people who are innocent whose lawyers would tell them not to sit down,” Mr. Rubio told “Fox News Sunday.”
“If there was strong evidence of collusion, I can guarantee you it would have been leaked by now,” he added.
His comments come after the president dismissed news reports Sunday that he’s worried about legal trouble for his son related to the special counsel’s investigation, and renewed his attacks on the media.
A source close to Mr. Trump said the president is concerned about Mr. Mueller targeting Donald Trump Jr. after his former personal attorney Michael Cohen alleged Mr. Trump knew of Don Jr.’s meeting with a Russian attorney at Trump Tower before the meeting, CNN reported.
The younger Mr. Trump had testified to lawmakers that his father never knew about his meeting in June 2016, which took place to potentially get dirt on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!” the president tweeted Sunday morning.
Mr. Sekulow defended the legality of the meeting, saying no law or statute has been violated.
“I have no knowledge at all of Don Jr. being told he is the target of any investigation and I have no knowledge of him being interviewed by the special counsel,” Mr. Sekulow said.
But the president’s opponents say the tweet Sunday morning contradicts his earlier statements, which had said the meeting at Trump Tower focused on Russian adoptions.
Rep. Adam Schiff, California Democrat, responded to the president’s tweet Sunday himself via Twitter, saying Russians offered damaging information on Mrs. Clinton and his campaign accepted their help.
“You then misled the country about the purpose of the Trump Tower meeting when it became public. Now you say you didn’t know in advance. None of this is normal or credible,” Mr. Schiff tweeted.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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