ABCNews.com(WASHINGTON) — Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer met with members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s staff Monday as part of the expanding probe into potential collusion with Russia on election interference efforts in the 2016 presidential campaign, according to sources with direct knowledge of the meeting. The news was first reported by Politico.
Spicer, who left his post as President Donald Trump’s first White House press secretary in August, follows his former boss and longtime ally Reince Priebus, who met with investigators last week.
In an interview with last month, when asked about the Russia investigation by ABC News’ Paula Faris, Spicer provided a consistent response to repeated questions on the subject: “I’m not gonna discuss that issue at all.
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An attorney for Spicer, Chris Mead, declined to comment when reached by phone by ABC News.
Mueller’s team has indicated they’re interested in speaking with additional current and former White House aides, among them White House counsel Don McGahn and communications director Hope Hicks.
In June, ABC News reported that Mueller requested that White House officials preserve any records related to Donald Trump Jr.’s 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer.
ABC News also reported that Mueller wants to talk to some top aides who were involved in crafting the initial statement Trump Jr. gave in response to inquiries about the Trump Tower meeting, according to a source familiar with the conversation. The meeting was also attended by Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and former campaign chair Paul Manafort.
Mueller, the source said, is interested in learning the extent to which the president weighed in on the statement, along with whether anyone else was involved in its crafting. ABC News has reported that President Trump was personally involved in the crafting of the original statement made by his son.
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