NewsNation/World

Actions

New York Times obtains questions that special counsel wants to ask Trump

Posted at 7:27 AM, May 01, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-01 09:27:12-04

NEW YORK — Special counsel Robert Mueller is interested in asking President Donald Trump a variety of questions related to the 2016 campaign and people who have figured in Trump’s personal life, business interactions and administration, according to Mueller’s list of questions for Trump obtained and reported on by The New York Times.

The topics, which CNN previously reported can be classified into four main areas, involve questions about Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former FBI Director James Comey, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and any Russian coordination with his presidential campaign, according to The New York Times.

Mueller is leading the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and if there were any ties between Moscow and Trump campaign associates. Trump has repeatedly denied collusion.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s lawyers outlined nearly 50 questions for President Donald Trump about a variety of topics related to the 2016 campaign and his personal orbit, two sources told CNN.

Mueller’s list of questions for Trump was obtained and reported on by The New York Times on Monday. The Times report said it had condensed and paraphrased the questions themselves.

Those paraphrased questions included, according to the Times:

  • What did you know about phone calls that Mr. Flynn made with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, in late December 2016?
  • Regarding the decision to fire Mr. Comey: When was it made? Why? Who played a role?
  • What discussions did you have regarding terminating the special counsel, and what did you do when that consideration was reported in January 2018?

A source familiar with the matter told CNN in March that the President’s legal team had created dozens of potential questions Mueller’s team could ask in an interview based off the topics his team had conveyed verbally to Trump’s team.

On Monday evening, a source reiterated to CNN that the questions had been written by Trump’s legal team, extrapolating from topics discussed with the special counsel, and confirmed the accuracy of topics as reported on by The New York Times.