“I would do it under oath. Absolutely,” Trump told reporters in a surprise appearance at a briefing Wednesday at the White House, and suggested that it might happen in two to three weeks.
“I’m looking forward to it,” even though his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton didn’t speak under oath when her use of private emails was investigated in 2016, he said, according to Bloomberg.
Trump’s lawyers have been talking with Mueller and his aides about an interview with the president. The lawyers met last month with the special prosecutor’s team and have been speaking by phone as part of a continuing exchange over logistics that could take several weeks.
On Wednesday evening, Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer, said the president had been rushed while preparing to leave for the World Economic Forum in Davos and intended only to emphasize that he remained committed to cooperating fully with the investigation and was willing to meet with Mueller.
Cobb added that the arrangements between Trump’s lawyers and the special counsel’s office were still being worked out.
As part of his investigation, Mueller is focusing on whether Trump obstructed justice when he removed his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and fired FBI Director James Comey, according to two U.S. officials.
The main topics of an interview would be those two decisions early in his presidency, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
“There’s been no collusion whatsoever. There’s been no obstruction whatsoever,” Trump said.
Trump also said he didn’t remember asking FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe who he had voted for in the 2016 election. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the president asked McCabe about his vote during an Oval Office meeting shortly after Comey was fired, citing several anonymous current and former U.S. officials.
McCabe’s wife, a Democrat, had received several hundred thousand dollars in donations from a political action committee controlled by a close friend of Clinton for her unsuccessful Virginia state Senate bid in 2015.
In recent weeks, Mueller’s team has interviewed a number of senior officials, including Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as well as Comey, officials said.
His team has also met with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, White House Counsel Don McGahn, former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, former spokesman Sean Spicer and National Security Council chief of staff Keith Kellogg, according to people familiar with the investigation.
When Trump was asked on Jan. 10 about an interview with Mueller, he declined to say whether he would agree and suggested one may not occur. “I’ll speak with attorneys,” Trump said in a response to a question, adding, “It seems unlikely you’d even have an interview.”