Donald Trump Gave ‘Responses’ To Mueller Questions, But Did Not Necessarily Provide Full Answers
Donald Trump and his lawyers had problems with some of the questions asked by Robert Mueller in the ongoing investigation, CNN reports.
A number of the questions cover late 2016, the transitional period after the election. At this time, Donald Trump was preparing to move into the White House as the president of the United States.
Donald Trump issued “responses” to each of the questions asked by Mueller, but this does not mean that he provided actual answers. Lawyers for Trump previously stated that he would only answer questions relating to events that took place before the 2016 election.
“There are some [questions] that create more issues for us legally than others,” said Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in a recent Washington Post interview.
Mueller could come back with follow-up questions, and may still ask for a face-to-face interview with Donald Trump.
President Trump on written questions from Robert Mueller: "My lawyers don't write answers. I write answers. I was asked a series of questions. I've answered them very easily." pic.twitter.com/bj00tjRe1x
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 16, 2018
Trump stated Friday that he has finished with his answers to the questions given to him by Mueller last spring. He has not yet submitted the answers to Mueller.
“From what I’m hearing it’s ending and I’m sure it’ll be just fine…And you know why it’s going to be just fine? Because there was no collusion,” Trump said.
The list provided by Mueller included questions about the efforts of the White House to establish a “backchannel” line of communication to Russia and a 2017 meeting in the Seychelles attended by Erik Prince. The founder of Blackwater, Erik Prince is a close associate of Donald Trump’s.
On Friday, Trump said he answered the questions “very easily” and that he did so personally, the BBC reports.
Trump has said that Mueller’s investigation is “illegal.” As recently as Thursday, he said it was “a disgrace to our nation.”
He also said that the people who wrote the questions “probably have bad intentions.”
U.S. intelligence agencies have confirmed that Russia, under the authority of the government, used various cyber attacks and fake news to sway the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Mueller investigation is an effort to determine whether or not Donald Trump, or anyone associated with his campaign, assisted with these attacks in any way or otherwise worked with Russian agents in their efforts to influence the election.
Donald Trump himself invited hackers to find Hillary Clinton’s emails while on the campaign trail.
Four people connected to the campaign — George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and Michael Flynn — have already been charged for various crimes.
