President Trump still wants to talk with special counsel Robert Mueller despite his lawyers urging him not to sit for an interview, CNN reported, citing Trump allies.
One person familiar with the president’s thinking told CNN that Trump wants to talk with Mueller because the president thinks he is completely innocent.
“He thinks he can work this,” this person told CNN. “He doesn’t realize how high the stakes are.”
{mosads}
The source added that if Trump does sit down for an interview, he can’t back out of it.
“You can’t get up and walk away. It’s not that easy,” the person said.
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Tuesday that Trump is “basically saying that ‘I’m wide open as a book. I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong and I’m willing to say so under oath.’ “
“So again, I still think that that is on the table,” Scaramucci told CNN.
The report comes after The New York Times reported this week that Trump’s lawyers are urging him to not sit for an interview with Mueller.
Trump’s attorneys have advised him against the interview over concerns that he could be charged with lying to investigators in the probe into Russian election interference, according to the Times.
Trump publicly said last month that he would be willing to sit down with Mueller, but hedged it by saying it would be up to his lawyers to decide whether he would take part in an interview.