Lawyers for President Trump have advised him against sitting down for a wide-ranging interview with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to four people briefed on the matter, raising the specter of a monthslong court battle over whether the president must answer questions under oath.
NYT
Oh, yes, this is going to drag on forever - at least until he gets his four years in - unless something drastic happens, like Mueller bringing criminal charges for money laundering. Fingers crossed.
His lawyers are concerned that the president, who has a history of making false statements and contradicting himself, could be charged with lying to investigators.
I'd say the chances of that are about 100%.
Refusing to sit for an interview opens the possibility that Mr. Mueller will subpoena the president to testify before a grand jury, setting up a court fight that would drastically escalate the investigation and could be decided by the Supreme Court.
And that body is no longer reliable. But at least he'd have to go through some lower courts to get there, which presumably would be public.
Presidents have often agreed to speak with federal prosecutors who are investigating their actions or those close to them. But President Richard M. Nixon refused to turn over to the special prosecutor investigating him tapes of incriminating conversations with aides. The matter eventually went before the Supreme Court, which ruled in 1974 that the president, like every American, was not above the law and had to comply with the special prosecutor’s request.
That was a different Supreme Court and a time when most Americans still wanted an honest government.
Rejecting an interview with Mr. Mueller also carries political consequences. It would be certain to prompt accusations that the president is hiding something, and a court fight could prolong the special counsel inquiry, casting a shadow over Republicans as November’s midterm elections approach or beyond into the president’s re-election campaign.
[...]
John Dowd, the longtime Washington defense lawyer hired last summer to represent Mr. Trump in the investigation, wants to rebuff an interview request, as do Mr. Dowd’s deputy, Jay Sekulow, and many West Wing advisers, according to the four people. The lawyers and aides believe the special counsel might be unwilling to subpoena the president and set off a showdown with the White House that Mr. Mueller could lose in court.
If Mueller thinks Trump's testimony is necessary, he'll subpoena. I don't imagine at this point he's worried about losing in court. He's not reading all these speculatory articles or watching TV news coverage of his investigation. He's just doing his job. He'll be getting pretty close to some money laundering charges against the Trump organization, and they're still giving him fuel for his obstruction of justice investigation.
They are convinced that Mr. Mueller lacks the legal standing to question Mr. Trump about some of the matters he is investigating, like the president’s role in providing a misleading response last summer to a New York Times article about a meeting Mr. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. had with Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. The advisers have also argued that on other matters — like the allegations that the president asked James B. Comey, then the F.B.I. director, to end the investigation into the former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn — the president acted within his constitutional authority and cannot be questioned about acts that were legal.
Do they really believe that, or is that their public face?
One of the few voices arguing for cooperating with Mr. Mueller is Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer whom Mr. Trump also brought on to deal with Mr. Mueller’s investigation. Since Mr. Cobb was hired in July, he has argued that the White House should do everything possible to cooperate with Mr. Mueller’s investigation.
I'm surprised they've kept him around.
“In general,” [said Neal K. Katyal, a partner at the law firm Hogan Lovells], “presidents do sit for interviews or respond to requests from prosecutors because they take their constitutional responsibility to faithfully execute the laws seriously, and running away from a prosecutor isn’t consistent with faithfully executing the laws.”
These are different times. We're in shark-infested waters without a boat, much less a paddle.
The president has bragged to some aides that he would be able to clear himself if he talked to Mr. Mueller’s team.
“I’m looking forward to it, actually,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House last month, though he added, almost as an afterthought, that an interview would be “subject to my lawyers, and all of that.”
That last part is key. His bragging is no different than his bragging about his vast riches while refusing to release his tax returns to prove it.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Every time I see a picture of Dowd...
...I see this great Twilight zone episode: The Masks
