Giuliani says Trump open to resisting wide-ranging Mueller interview
CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 7/19/2018, 11:59 a.m.
Rudy Giuliani
By Dana Bash, CNN
(CNN) -- Rudy Giuliani says President Donald Trump might be coming around on the idea that he should resist sitting down for a wide-ranging interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.
The President has consistently said in public that he's like to sit down with Mueller, which his legal team has long opposed.
"This is me talking -- but I think he has accepted this idea it can't be wide-ranging. But he still wants to do something," Giuliani, the President's attorney and former New York City mayor, told CNN.
As recently as Wednesday, Trump has expressed interest in sitting down with Mueller. The President told CBS News' Jeff Glor that he has "always wanted to do an interview" with the special counsel.
"My lawyers are working on that. I've always wanted to do an interview because, look, there's been no collusion," the President said.
The President's legal team, as it has for months, remains in discussions with the special counsel's office about just how to limit the scope of any interview. One source familiar with the discussions said there is a counterproposal on the table from Trump's team about how to narrow the interview, but the source would not provide any details.
CNN has previously reported that Trump attorneys argue that if the probe is about campaign collusion, any potential interview's focus should be limited to the time before Trump became president. That would eliminate any questions about obstruction of justice, and other topics since Trump's inauguration.
There is no indication that Mueller would agree to those narrow parameters, however, and Trump's legal team believes a subpoena could be possible if talks break down.
