In a morning
tweet, Trump said it was “disgraceful” that the 49 questions were provided to
the New York Times, which published them Monday night.
“So
disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were ‘leaked’
to the media,” he wrote on Twitter.
So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were “leaked” to the media. No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see...you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2018
It appears that the leak did not
come from Mueller’s office. The Times reported that the questions were relayed
to Trump’s attorneys as part of negotiations over the terms of a potential
interview with the president. The list was then provided to the Times by a
person outside Trump’s legal team, the paper said.
In his
tweet, Trump also falsely asserts that there are no questions about
“Collusion.”
While the questions
published by the Times are wide-ranging — and include more related to possible
obstruction of justice — the list includes 13 related to possible cooperation
between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Among
those is a query about Trump’s knowledge of any outreach by his former campaign
chairman Paul Manafort to Russia “about potential assistance to the campaign.”
A court filing this month revealed that Mueller had sought authorization to
expand his probe into allegations that Manafort “committed a crime or crimes by
colluding with Russian government officials.”
Another
question asks about Trump’s knowledge of a June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower
between his aides and a Russian lawyer who offered politically damaging
information on Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
And
another asks what Trump knew about “Russian hacking, use of social media or
other acts aimed at the campaign?”
In
his tweet, Trump calls collusion “a phony crime” and repeats his claim that
none existed. The president also derides Mueller’s investigation as having
“begun with illegally leaked classified information,” adding: “Nice!”
That
is a reference to notes that former FBI director James B. Comey provided to a
friend documenting his interactions with Trump. The president has said that
action, which prompted the appointment of a special counsel, amounted to
illegally leaking classified information and that Comey should be imprisoned.
Comey,
whom Trump fired last year, has said repeatedly that the information was not
classified. He and Trump have been sparring over the issue as Comey continues a
publicity tour to promote his new book, “A Higher Loyalty,” which portrays
Trump as an ego-driven and congenital liar.
In
a later tweet Tuesday morning, Trump wrote that it “would seem very hard to
obstruct justice for a crime that never happened!”
But
that, legal experts, say is a misunderstanding of the law.
“This
is flat wrong,” said Randall D. Eliason, a former assistant U.S. attorney who
teaches white-collar criminal law at George Washington University Law School.
“The
purpose of the investigation is to determine whether a crime was committed,
and, regardless of the ultimate answer to that question, it is a separate crime
to attempt to obstruct that inquiry,” Eliason said. “It’s also true, of course,
that we don’t yet know that the underlying crime ‘never happened.’ ”
It would seem very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened! Witch Hunt!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2018
Trump has said
previously that he would be willing to have a face-to-face meeting with Mueller
or his team, but more recently he has wavered on the prospect.
Rudolph
W. Giuliani, Trump’s new personal lawyer dealing with the probe into Russian
interference in the 2016 election, met with Mueller last week to reopen
negotiations for a possible presidential interview.
Giuliani
conveyed the ongoing resistance of Trump and his advisers to an interview but
did not rule out the possibility, according to people familiar with the talks.
Raj
Shah, a White House spokesman, said later Tuesday morning that White House
officials are frustrated that much of Mueller’s focus seems to be outside his
original aim of investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Appearing
on Fox News, Shah said he couldn’t speak to the accuracy of the questions
published by the Times. But, he said, “if they are accurate, the overwhelming
majority of those questions don’t focus on the underlying premise of this
special counsel.”
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