United States: ‘Looking forward’ to being questioned about Russian meddling, says Donald Trump
Mueller’s team and Trump’s lawyers were coordinating on setting a date for the meeting, an official said.
United States President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was willing to be interviewed under oath about allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, Reuters reported. Trump’s statement follows former director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation Robert Mueller’s interrogation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the same case.
“I am looking forward to it, actually,” Trump told reporters. “I would like to do it as soon as possible,”
Mueller is leading the investigation into the matter.
While this is not the first time Trump has agreed to being questioned, his statements gain significance after his allies and the White House have raised speculation about the investigation’s credibility, Reuters reported.
Responding to queries if he thought the interrogation would be fair, Trump said: “We are going to find out.”
White House lawyer Ty Cobb said Mueller’s team and Trump’s lawyers were coordinating on setting a date for the meeting.
Mueller’s interrogation of Sessions was the first time a member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet was interviewed under oath. Mueller is believed to have told Trump’s lawyers he will question the president about why he fired former FBI Director James Comey and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, The New York Timesquoted a source who was briefed about the matter.
Sessions was a key adviser for the Trump campaign in the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections, which intelligence sources say were manipulated by Russia. In March 2017, Sessions had recused himself from the investigations into the inquiry after reports on his undisclosed meetings with Russian officials surfaced.