Trump's legal team met with Mueller's staff on day of FBI raids
The meeting was part of negotiations for an interview between Mueller and Trump.
On the day FBI agents raided the home, offices and hotel room of his personal attorney, President Donald Trump's legal team working on the Russia probe was meeting with members of special counsel Robert Mueller's staff, sources familiar with the meeting told ABC News.
The Trump legal team had previously scheduled the meeting, which was part of a series of ongoing negotiations between the Trump team and the Mueller team toward a potential interview with the president.
One source familiar with the meeting described it as "tense" as the president's team had learned of the raid shortly before the meeting began, though it did not dominate the conversation.
As ABC News reported Tuesday morning, in the wake of the early morning FBI raids on Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen, sources close to Trump and his legal team said the president is “less inclined” to sit down for an interview with the special counsel team.
For the last several months, the Trump legal team has been having active negotiations with the Mueller team working toward a potential interview, which would include either a face-to-face interview with parameters, a written questionnaire or some mix of both, sources have told ABC News.
Yet in the wake of Monday’s action against Cohen, the president’s longtime personal counsel, multiple sources told ABC News things might be changing and that the president, per one source, is “understandably less trusting” of Mueller and his team.