Special counsel Mueller wants to ask Trump about obstruction of justice: Sources
The news was the cause of the president's tweet storm Wednesday, sources said.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office wants to ask President Donald Trump about obstruction of justice, among other topics, sources close to the White House tell ABC News. According to sources, the president learned within the last day that the special counsel will limit the scope of questioning and would like to ask questions both orally and written for the President to respond to.
According to sources familiar with the President’s reaction Wednesday morning, that was the genesis for his early morning tweet storm. Trump took to twitter in one of his strongest attacks against the federal probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, saying: "This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!"
Negotiations over a potential presidential interview have gone on for months, through several different iterations of the Trump legal team. Current lead attorney, Rudy Giuliani, told ABC News a week ago that his team had submitted a response to Mueller asking to limit the scope of an interview with Trump especially as it relates to obstruction of justice.
"We have a list of questions that are fairly narrowed but we are waiting on the special counsel's response," Giuliani told ABC last week.
Speaking to reporters after an appearance in New Hampshire today, Giuliani said he had received a response from the special counsel’s office without getting into details.
"They took about 10 days and yesterday we got a letter back for them. Now we're in the process of responding to their proposal," Giuliani said.
The president’s legal team declined to comment when reached by ABC News about specific details on the special counsel's responses.
The special counsel’s office declined to comment when reached by ABC News.
The president has said many times he would be willing to speak with Mueller but would await his legal teams guidance.