Leaked: Mueller's questions to Trump

And you know they were leaked by the Trump team.  In hopes to somehow make Mueller's investigation harder.

They deal chiefly with the president’s high-profile firings of the F.B.I. director and his first national security adviser, his treatment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a 2016 Trump Tower meeting between campaign officials and Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.

But they also touch on the president’s businesses; any discussions with his longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, about a Moscow real estate deal; whether the president knew of any attempt by Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to set up a back channel to Russia during the transition; any contacts he had with Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime adviser who claimed to have inside information about Democratic email hackings; and what happened during Mr. Trump’s 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant.

[...]

Mr. Mueller would like to ask Mr. Trump whether he had any discussions during the campaign about any meetings with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and whether he spoke to others about either American sanctions against Russia or meeting with Mr. Putin.

Through his questions, Mr. Mueller also tries to tease out Mr. Trump’s views on law enforcement officials and whether he sees them as independent investigators or people who should loyally protect him.

[...]

He wants to ask why, time and again, Mr. Trump expressed no concerns with whether Mr. Comey had abided by policy.

[...]

Many of the questions surround Mr. Trump’s relationship with Mr. Sessions, including the attorney general’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation and whether Mr. Trump told Mr. Sessions he needed him in place for protection.

Mr. Mueller appears to be investigating how Mr. Trump took steps last year to fire Mr. Mueller himself. The president relented after the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, threatened to resign, an episode that the special counsel wants to ask about.

  NYT

Nothing surprising.

[Trump's] lawyers have been negotiating terms of an interview out of concern that their client — whose exaggerations, half-truths and outright falsehoods are well documented — could provide false statements or easily become distracted.

[...]

Mr. Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday that it was “disgraceful” that questions the special counsel would like to ask him were publicly disclosed, and he incorrectly noted that there were no questions about collusion.

He says that about everything. As for the public disclosure, what his tweet sai was it's disgraceful that the questions were "leaked".

Mueller's team doesn't leak, but Trump hopes people think that's what happened by posting the tweet. And again, the Comey memos were not classified when he gave them to a friend.

[The questions were] read by the special counsel investigators to the president’s lawyers, who compiled them into a list. That document was provided to The Times by a person outside Mr. Trump’s legal team.

Who got them from Mr. Trump's legal team.

The majority relate to possible obstruction of justice, demonstrating how an investigation into Russia’s election meddling grew to include an examination of the president’s conduct in office. Among them are queries on any discussions Mr. Trump had about his attempts to fire Mr. Mueller himself and what the president knew about possible pardon offers to Mr. Flynn.

[...]

In one of the more tantalizing inquiries, Mr. Mueller asks what Mr. Trump knew about campaign aides, including the former chairman Paul Manafort, seeking assistance from Moscow: “What knowledge did you have of any outreach by your campaign, including by Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential assistance to the campaign?” No such outreach has been revealed publicly.

[...]

Mr. Mueller wanted to inquire about public threats the president made, conflicting statements from Mr. Trump and White House aides, the president’s private admissions to Russian officials, a secret meeting at an island resort, WikiLeaks, salacious accusations and dramatic congressional testimony.

Will Trump's legal team refuse to let him answer?  Even in writing?  I can only assume that on many of the questions, Mueller already has evidence from other sources, and any untruthful answer Trump gives will trap him.

“What was the purpose of your Jan 27, 2017, dinner with Mr Comey, and what was said?”

Mueller also zeroes in on Trump’s TV interview with journalist Lester Holt, in which he said he had been considering the Russian matter when he fired Comey. “What did you mean in your interview with Lester Holt about Mr Comey and Russia?”

Even Trump’s Twitter feed is under the spotlight. On 12 May 2017, the president wrote: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Mueller wants to know the purpose of that tweet.

  The Guardian

Yes, I'd like to see what kind of knots they'll tie themselves into trying to make that look innocent.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Charles P Pierce has the obvious analysis of the "leak".