Giuliani says Trump to make call on Mueller within 10 days: report

President Trump and his legal team will likely decide whether to arrange an interview between the president and special counsel Robert Mueller within the next 10 days, according to Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani told Politico on Thursday that Trump’s legal team was still haggling with the special counsel’s office over whether Mueller would be allowed to ask the president questions related to possible obstruction of justice, but that he expects a decision to be made soon.

{mosads}

“I think our decisions will get made in the next week to 10 days,” the former New York City mayor said.

“We don’t want questioning on obstruction. They would have to concede that,” Giuliani added. “It depends on how much they want his testimony on the other [topic].”

The special counsel’s office did not respond immediately to Politico’s request for comment.

Giuliani made similar claims in June, saying that Trump’s legal team would know by July 4 whether the president would sit down with Mueller. However, Giuliani said on July 5 that he remained unsure about whether the meeting would occur.

Trump is under investigation for possible obstruction of justice charges related to his firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Trump, who has offered multiple reasons via Twitter for choosing to fire Comey, told NBC News last year that Mueller’s Russia investigation into possible ties between his campaign and Moscow drove his decision to oust Comey.

The president’s attorneys, instead, want Mueller to limit the scope of his questioning to questions centering on collusion with Russia.

Giuliani’s remarks come a day after he called for Mueller’s probe to present evidence of collusion between the U.S. and Russia during the 2016 election, or to disband the investigation altogether.

“We believe that the [Mueller] investigation should be brought to a close,” Giuliani told reporters on Wednesday. “We think they’re at the end of it. They should render their report.”

“I mean, I guess if we were playing poker, we’d say ‘put up or shut up,’ ” he continued. “What do you got?” 

Late Wednesday night, The New York Times reported that the president had renewed his interest in a a sit-down interview with Mueller.

Mueller’s investigation has resulted in charges for a number of former Trump campaign officials, including former advisers George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn, who both pleaded guilty to lying to investigators.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is in trial this week, facing charges stemming from the Mueller probe that relate to his work before the election for pro-Russian lobbying groups in Ukraine.