ABC News(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Friday that he “would love to speak” with special counsel Robert Mueller as long as he can get assurances he would be treated fairly.
“I would love to go,” Trump said of a potential sit-down interview with the lead investigator of the Russia election interference probe. He added that if he thought the interview were “fair,” he would “override” his lawyers.
The president spoke to reporters on the south lawn of the White House and on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews before heading to deliver remarks at the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas, Texas.
Trump again accused Mueller of having partisan investigators.
“You have a group of investigators that are all Democrats,” Trump said of Mueller and his team.
Mueller is a Republican and was appointed by another Republican, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, to lead the investigation. Thirteen of the 17 lawyers on Mueller’s team have either registered as or donated to Democrats, according to available records.
However, it would be a violation of Department of Justice regulations for Mueller to consider political affiliation when hiring prosecutors. The president also falsely claimed that Mueller worked for Obama for eight years — his full term. In fact, Mueller was appointed by George W. Bush to head the FBI in 2001 and served in that position for five years under Obama.
Trump’s new lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said any interview between Trump and Mueller must have parameters and cannot last more than three hours.
Trump also responded to the ongoing controversy behind Giuliani’s recent revelation that he reimbursed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels. That statement from Giuliani directly contradicted a prior claim by the president that he was unaware of the payment to Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with Trump in 2006.
“Rudy is great guy, but he just started a day ago,” Trump said. (Giuliani actually started two weeks ago.)
“He’s working hard, learning the subject matter, and he’s going to be issuing a statement too,” Trump added.
Giuliani has done numerous television interviews in recent days, including with ABC News, and has stood behind his comments. The president did not make immediately clear why Giuliani would be issuing a new statement.
“He’ll get his facts straight. He’s a great guy,” Trump said.
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.