How Trump Weaseled Out of Live Mueller Interview and Limited His Written Responses

By Jeralyn, Section Trump Administration
Posted on Fri Nov 23, 2018 at 07:23:00 AM EST
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No, of course Donald Trump didn't answer all Robert Mueller's questions -- and of course he weaseled out of orally answering questions, notwithstanding the interview had been all set up. The Associated Press has all the details in Inside Trump’s refusal to testify in the Mueller probe.

A key breakthrough occurred earlier this fall when Mueller’s team said it would accept written answers on Russian election interference and collusion. The concession ensured that Mueller would get at least some on-the-record response from Trump. Prosecutors tabled questions about obstruction, reserving the right to return to that area later.

This sounds like he just capitulated to Trump's demands. I think Mueller should have at least insisted on one or the other: Either a live interview just on the Russia collusion issue or written questions to also encompass obstruction of justice -- both as to the firing of James Comey and his knowledge of Don Jr.'s meeting with the Russian lawyer and her associates at Trump Tower to get dirt on Hillary. [More..]

I'm not sure I believe that Mueller agreed to Trump's written answers only on limited topics. It took a year of whining by Giuliani and Trump for Trump to agree to answer any questions in writing. There is no "coming back" for Mueller - his probe (and probably Trump's days in the oval office) will have ended before a second round of negotiations could be completed.

In any event, we're a long way from 11 months ago when Trump proclaimed he couldn't wait to answer Mueller's questions -- as soon as possible.

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How Trump Weaseled Out of Live Mueller Interview and Limited His Written Responses | 82 comments (82 topical)

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Jerome Corsi (5.00 / 3) (#9)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 09:43:58 AM EST

Has officially been offered a plea deal on one count of perjury.

He says he would rather rot in jail.

Which is going to be fine with a great many people.

We don't talk here anymore (5.00 / 2) (#10)
by Militarytracy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 10:19:58 AM EST

But it's like, where does anyone even begin?

I mean, are we on the cusp of another world war but dumbstruck by our Southern border truly not comparable challenging events? Kushner's best friends are organizing journalist murders, every tweet the President sends out is some sort of projection onto someone of what he is actually doing, diabetic Americans are dying, Facebook?, incoming recession, 10 yrs to deal with climate change.


All (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 10:24:10 AM EST

I got


While not righting all the wrongs (5.00 / 2) (#12)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 10:33:08 AM EST

Corsi in jail would be a truly wonderous thing

Next to Stone the second best thing evah


What's good for General Motors,... (none / 0) (#13)
by oculus on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 01:14:44 PM EST

: Per Wiki: (none / 0) (#14)
by oculus on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 01:38:40 PM EST

"because for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa."

Isn't Corsi the one (none / 0) (#59)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Thu Nov 29, 2018 at 12:23:35 PM EST

pushing the notion that the moon landings were faked?


: Yes (none / 0) (#61)
by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 29, 2018 at 02:58:33 PM EST

Among other things

It's (none / 0) (#17)
by FlJoe on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 06:21:16 PM EST

turning into a game of whack a weasel

Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, repeatedly lied to federal investigators in breach of a plea agreement he signed two months ago, the special counsel's office said in a court filing late on Monday.
Mr. Manafort's "crimes and lies" during a series of interviews with prosecutors working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and the F.B.I. relieve them of all promises they made to him in the plea agreement reached in mid-September, investigators wrote in the filing.

Still fishing for pardons?


That's what I think too (none / 0) (#18)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 06:29:11 PM EST

He and Corsi

It will probably take a democratic house for us to know if dangled pardons are in play.


Mueller (5.00 / 1) (#19)
by FlJoe on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 06:45:52 PM EST

probably already knows.


I think that too (none / 0) (#20)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 07:11:18 PM EST

But if Corsi is going to trial, then Stone, it could be a while


But (none / 0) (#24)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 07:34:56 PM EST

About the pardon thing,

Are there not enough potential state charges to put him in for a long long time in a much stinker prison?


Not so sure that Virginia prosecutors (none / 0) (#26)
by Peter G on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 08:58:01 PM EST

would be as interested in pushing that envelope as NY State prosecutors. And local DC prosecutors are subject to US DoJ control, I think, and in any event are not a "separate sovereign." (Note also, that the Supreme Court could overrule the "separate sovereigns" exception to Double Jeopardy this Term. The case is already briefed.)


: Ken Dilanian just now (none / 0) (#30)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 27, 2018 at 10:02:41 AM EST

"I've been told by legal experts state prosecutors would be only too happy to file bank and tax fraud charges against Paul Manafort in VA NY PA and other places based on his guilty plea. He has admitted to evading taxes and defrauding banks..."

He is now (none / 0) (#21)
by Ga6thDem on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 07:14:06 PM EST

probably going on trial in DC and the charges from VA that were hung can be refiled as I understand it.

We're back to where we began with Paulie Walnuts is probably going to die in prison.


I guess it's also possible (none / 0) (#22)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 07:20:03 PM EST

Manafort is thinking more about polonium than pardons. As someone said this afternoon, what's more scary than dying in prison?


Or (5.00 / 1) (#23)
by FlJoe on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 07:33:23 PM EST

possibly looking out for the health of his family.

Who needs him anyway?

But Mueller's team appears to have no doubt that Manafort was lying to them. That means they didn't really need his testimony, at all. It also means they had no need to keep secrets -- they could keep giving Manafort the impression that he was pulling a fast one over the prosecutors, all while reporting misleading information to Trump.
And that "detailed sentencing submission ... sett[ing] forth the nature of the defendant's crimes and lies" that Mueller mentions in the report?There's your Mueller report, which will be provided in a form that Matt Whitaker won't be able to suppress.

They just said (none / 0) (#25)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 07:38:22 PM EST

Communication with his lawyers could not be monitored UNLESS it was suspected a crime was being committed. Like obstruction by pardon for instance.


Seeking a pardon is not a form of obstruction (5.00 / 1) (#27)
by Peter G on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 09:03:51 PM EST

of justice. Offering a pardon to stop someone from cooperating with an investigation, however, is an "endeavor to obstruct justice" (which is how the statute reads).


That's what I meant (none / 0) (#28)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 27, 2018 at 09:35:43 AM EST

And did not say clearly.


When you think it can't get more weird (none / 0) (#41)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 27, 2018 at 09:10:17 PM EST

Manafort lawyer briefed Trump team on Mueller's questions - report
New York Times story comes after prosecutors accused Trump's former campaign chair of violating plea deal

And... (none / 0) (#42)
by Ga6thDem on Wed Nov 28, 2018 at 02:31:01 PM EST

now there seems to be thinking that Trump used that information to fill out the questions Mueller sent him. So not only was Manafort caught lying but Trump is too.


Crafting his answers according to (5.00 / 1) (#52)
by Peter G on Wed Nov 28, 2018 at 08:04:18 PM EST

what he thinks the impact will be on Mueller's investigation, rather than based on a good faith effort to respond truthfully, would be a felony endeavor to obstruct justice whether or not the responses are demonstrably false. ("Whoever ... corruptly ... endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).")


Hey Peter (none / 0) (#53)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Nov 28, 2018 at 08:33:54 PM EST

There is a Manafort hearing on Friday

Former 2016 Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort filed a motion to "waive his right to appear" in court on Friday.
The hearing is over special counsel Robert Mueller seeking to revoke Manafort's plea agreement.

Would we expect Mueller to make the promised report on Manaforts "crimes and lies" at that hearing on friday?


I do not think the judge will allow Manafort (none / 0) (#54)
by Peter G on Wed Nov 28, 2018 at 09:01:23 PM EST

to waive his right to appear. That is not the sort of hearing at which a defendant's presence is categorically optional. (Nor is it within any of the categories of hearing where the defendant's presence is mandatory under the Rule.) Therefore, I conclude that the judge has discretion to deny the defendant's request to absent himself. And yes, it seems to me that Mueller has to prove his claim that Manafort his violated his agreement, and therefore is likely to file a detailed factual and legal memorandum on the subject, and then present live witnesses at the hearing.


: Turns out (none / 0) (#62)
by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 30, 2018 at 11:36:56 AM EST

That will happen next week.
Might other things?

Oops (none / 0) (#43)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Nov 28, 2018 at 03:55:02 PM EST

The (none / 0) (#44)
by FlJoe on Wed Nov 28, 2018 at 04:44:16 PM EST

probability of a pardon just went way up.

This seems well gamed out(for this crew at least). Manafort was never going to flip, this was all about stalling for time and spying on the investigation.

No one in tRumps's team wanted the DC trial to go on, too close to the election and the charges were at least one step closer to tRump than the VA trial. A pardon before the election was a non-starter even for the moron in chief.

It's about the only thing that makes sense, he would not have entered the agreement knowing he was going to lie and destroy any leniency he earned, for no apparent reason. Even if he was trying to avoid the polonium punch, he would not have needed to go through the motions of flipping.


The best laid plans ... (none / 0) (#45)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Nov 28, 2018 at 04:52:12 PM EST

...and all.

What you describe might be true but..

I would bet Mueller has known about this for a long time. I would bet they have been feeding Manafort misleading otherwise poisonous information knowing it was going straight to Rudy and Donald.

I think this better than any I've heard explains Trumps freak out in the last few days.

IMO it's no accident this is happening days after Trump submitted his take home test. That's what Mueller has been waiting for.

As far as a pardon I say go for it. If Manafort thinks his cushy stay in club fed is inconvenient just wait till he gets a load of Rikers.


: Today (none / 0) (#46)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Nov 28, 2018 at 04:55:13 PM EST

The De Blasio administration's plan to replace Rikers Island with smaller, borough-based jails throughout the city has hit a snag: According to the New York Daily News, plans for a 40-story complex in lower Manhattan at 80 Centre Street have been scrapped. The city is now reportedly considering replacing the existing Manhattan Detention Complex, better known as the Tombs, which is located at 125 White Street.

: March Wheeler (none / 0) (#47)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Nov 28, 2018 at 05:16:10 PM EST

as usual has some I interesting thoughts on the subject

Could (none / 0) (#34)
by FlJoe on Tue Nov 27, 2018 at 11:00:38 AM EST

this

Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort held secret talks with Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and visited around the time he joined Trump's campaign, the Guardian has been told.
Sources have said Manafort went to see Assange in 2013, 2015 and in spring 2016 - during the period when he was made a key figure in Trump's push for the White House.

be what he is lying about?


: The most interesting bit (none / 0) (#35)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 27, 2018 at 11:08:10 AM EST

About this might be Rudys text to an MSNBC reporter.
Paraphrase except for the last sentence...

This is unequivocally fake news.
SO I'VE BEEN TOLD.
Wow Rudy. That sounds like wiggle room.

Like (none / 0) (#55)
by FlJoe on Thu Nov 29, 2018 at 08:42:39 AM EST

I said, who needs Paulie when you have Mikey

Former Trump "fixer" Michael Cohen has reached a new plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller in which he will offer "potentially damaging" testimony against President Donald Trump.
According to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Cohen will plead guilty to making false statements to Congress during past testimony, and he will then provide "dozens of hours of testimony" that is "potentially damaging" to the president. While it's not clear what testimony Cohen will provide, Stephanopoulos says that the special counsel's office finds the information he's offering valuable.

I'm wondering if this

ABC News' sources say that Cohen is now admitting that he lied to Congress in closed-door testimony about contacts that he'd had with Russian nationals during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Has anything to do with Prague? Coming full circle back to the Steele dossier would be a hoot.


I'm a bit worried (none / 0) (#56)
by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 29, 2018 at 09:22:25 AM EST

What Agent Orange might do at the G20 to try to distract not only from this but from what's going to happen at the Manafort hearing tomorrow.

Buckle up


Cohen (none / 0) (#57)
by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 29, 2018 at 09:35:05 AM EST

Looks very zen


: Honestly (none / 0) (#60)
by Ga6thDem on Thu Nov 29, 2018 at 02:29:44 PM EST

Cohen has never looked happier and more relaxed than I have seen him lately ironically. I guess going to jail is kind of a vacation when you've been dealing with an extreme narcissist like Trump.

Me too (none / 0) (#58)
by Militarytracy on Thu Nov 29, 2018 at 09:56:57 AM EST

He's going to be out of his mind.


This (none / 0) (#63)
by FlJoe on Sat Dec 01, 2018 at 06:13:06 PM EST

could be interesting

"Mr. Cohen consulted with White House staff members and Mr. Trump's personal lawyers as he prepared for his false congressional testimony, according to the memo."

IANAL but that sure sounds like subornation of perjury to me. If true those lawyers are in a heap of trouble, not to mention atty client privilege being blown out the window I'm guessing.


Monday (none / 0) (#1)
by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 23, 2018 at 11:16:54 AM EST

Monday

I can't believe (none / 0) (#2)
by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 23, 2018 at 11:18:22 AM EST

I screwed that up


: It is (none / 0) (#3)
by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 23, 2018 at 11:32:29 AM EST

The functional end of Mullers 10 day delay
Jus sayin

The Guardian (none / 0) (#8)
by CaptHowdy on Sun Nov 25, 2018 at 08:24:02 AM EST

Mueller nears Trump endgame

Mueller's team asked for a delay in the sentencing of Rick Gates, Manafort's former partner and a key witness against him. Earlier this month they also asked for a delay before updating a judge about Manafort's co-operation. On Monday, they will submit a report.
Observers assume that means an indictment is imminent, against someone. If he is not co-operating fully, Manafort could be sentenced more harshly.

The deal is off (none / 0) (#15)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 06:16:37 PM EST

Paul Manafort repeatedly lied to federal investigators, reneging on his plea agreement, special counsel Robert Mueller's office said in a court filing Monday, according to the New York Times. The "crimes and lies" relieve federal prosecutors from any promises of leniency made to Manafort, investigators reportedly said. That means that prosecutors will not seek a lighter sentence for Manafort, and he could face 10 years in prison. Prosecutors may also re-file bank fraud charges, which had been dropped as part of the plea deal.

: Will a pardon be on? (none / 0) (#16)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 26, 2018 at 06:17:25 PM EST

As a prime suspect in the investigation (none / 0) (#4)
by Peter G on Fri Nov 23, 2018 at 01:07:57 PM EST

Tr*mp has/had no reason to answer any questions from Mueller at all. No rational person in Tr*mp's position would respond in any way other than relying on the Fifth Amendment privilege. And since Tr*mp is a congenital and invariable liar, Mueller would not be posing questions to him for the purpose of obtaining information; only as a "perjury trap" (hardly a trap, actually). Inviting further (but now harmless) endeavors at obstruction, corroborating prior criminal intent, is the only objective.

Not sure about that (none / 0) (#5)
by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 23, 2018 at 06:37:23 PM EST

You can already hear the right saying if he doesn't interview Trump he can not possibly have "all" the information and so he can't reach any legitimate conclusions. At least on the obstruction part.

I don't think Trump will consent to an interview. I never thought he would. I think if it came to it, as bad as it would, look Trump would take the fifth. But I think there are reasons to do it beyond just trying to catch him in perjury.


Right (none / 0) (#6)
by FlJoe on Sat Nov 24, 2018 at 07:51:37 AM EST

it's more Kabuki than anything, I don't think either side expected tRump to ever testify willingly. Certainly Mueller kept the dangle out hoping for a big prize and tRump's lawyers fought it to avert disaster. tRump meanwhile welcomed the idea of talking to Mueller(no collusion!)and the word is he had to be talked out of it.

Mueller, no matter what the optimal tactics were, had no choice but to let this play out in public. Maybe he got played a bit by tRump's rope-a-dope but he didn't punch himself out either, negotiating in good faith while tRump obviously dodged. Just like everyone else Mueller knew that Trump would weasel out eventually.


: And if and when (5.00 / 3) (#7)
by CaptHowdy on Sat Nov 24, 2018 at 08:11:20 AM EST

Mueller can truthfully say he did everything he could reasonably do to give Trump a chance to tell his side of the story