Giuliani: No Mueller Interview Until Trump Sees Spygate Documents

Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani keeps playing games with special counsel Robert Mueller, and you have to wonder if his tactics are going to work.  In an interview with the Washington Post Giuliani said that Trump will not agree to be interviewed by Mueller unless the president can see all the documents they have concerning “Spygate.”

Many legal scholars think that the president doesn’t have a choice in the matter, and that the special counsel has the authority to send him a subpoena which would compel Trump to testify.  Giuliani, however, likes to spout nonsense in the media and make unreasonable demands to make it appear that he and his client are the ones in control, and that they have the power to decide whether Trump will submit to an interview or not.

“We need all the documents before we can decide whether we are going to do an interview,” Giuliani asserted to the Post.

Previously Giuliani claimed that the president has done nothing improper and is even “eager” to talk to Mueller and his team as part of the special counsel investigation. During the Tuesday interview, however, he said, he won’t make the call on whether Trump will submit to a formal interview with Mueller “until they decide whether they are going to give us the documents or not.”

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Giuliani’s statements seemed to be an attempt by him and the president’s legal team to increase political pressure on the special counsel and his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.  Earlier on Tuesday, Trump went on Twitter to attack the “Rigged Russia Witch Hunt.” He also claimed that Mueller’s investigation is partisan, accusing the special counsel of “MEDDLING” in this year’s midterm elections.

On Tuesday Giuliani revealed that Mueller’s team has told him that a Trump interview would be one of the final steps in their Russia investigation. “They reserved the possibility they might have to interview a few people as a follow up,” the former New York mayor claimed. “But they said they had pretty much finished. This was four weeks ago.”

“I don’t think they would have asked to interview him until they are pretty much finished with everything,” Giuliani added. “They’re only going to get one shot at him. They know that. You look pretty amateurish if you interview him and you don’t have all the facts gathered.”

Concerning the reason why the president has been attacking the Mueller probe so much, Giuliani indicated that he believed that Trump’s tactics concerning Spygate were working as planned.

“As an effective politician, you’re not going to do something that you don’t think is working,” Giuliani said. “Spygate — that’s the reason — he’s not just ratcheted it up for no reason. He believes it is working, and he is genuinely upset about it.”

Trump and Giuliani may believe their approach to the Mueller investigation is working but only time will tell and we are sure that the special counsel himself will have the last word in the matter.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.