Trump says he wants to testify to Mueller in Russia probe

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill




BY JORDAN FABIAN - 03/22/18 01:09 PM EDT

President Trump said Thursday he still wants to testify before special counsel Robert Mueller in his ongoing probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

"Yes. I would like to," Trump said when asked about a potential Mueller sit-down during an event on trade.

The president's pronouncement comes after his lead attorney, John Dowd, resigned over differences with the president over how to handle the Mueller investigation.

One of the disputes was over whether Trump should sit for an interview with the special counsel. Trump has long wanted to do so, while Dowd advised against it.

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Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/379758-trump-says-he-wants-to-testify-to-mueller-in-russia-probe

[kairos12]

1. Will never happen. He will say he won't fall for a "Deep State" conspiracy.

[TranssexualKaren]

10. Im not so sure....

Maybe this is connected to the resignation of Dowd. Maybe he does believe he can talk his way out of it.

[C Moon]

11. Yep. That's all he does is lie, and put things off.

[janterry]

2. all talk

no action

[John Fante]

3. Trump also wants to release his taxes and fix DACA.

Honest he does.

[Voltaire2]

4. Hes way smarter than that Mueller guy.

In fact he’s smarter than everyone.

He’ll handle Mueller without any problems.

Please repeat this as much as possible.

[Locrian]

19. absolutely - like, he's a really smart guy, like.....

go for it... please, just please go for it....

[tazkcmo]

5. He will.

On Mueller's terms, not Shitgibon's Reality TV version.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Just ask him for loyalty, Donnie

That's what these things are for

[lagomorph777]

46. Hey Donnie, tell him he's fired if he doesn't let you go.

[FreepFryer]

7. Lying. His intent is to avoid it at all costs. (n/t)

[Freethinker65]

8. If he is allowed to testify like Sessions did to Congress

And walk away with no consequences like Sessions did (Hell, Sessions got a lifelong dream job heading the US justice Dept by lying under oath!), then why shouldn't Trump just sit down with Mueller and lie his ass off. Then he can tweet to brag about how brilliant he was to get away with lying again. Smart people lie and he is smartest after all. And his base will applaud him and offer up their prepubescent daughters and the GOP legislators will continue with dismantling social programs and the next round of tax cuts.

[lark]

9. drumpfs stupidity could save us yet!

He doesn't believe Mueller has anything on him so wants to treat this like he did real estate cases in NY and just lie his teeth off. He only trusts himself and thinks it's perfectly OK for him to lie, he's the president and will pardon himself and everyone else. Only he can't do that in this instance. Unless he thinks that the kompromat russia has on other repugs is so staggering that they won't impeach him even when there's tape proving he conspired with a hostile foreign country against America. In that case, it's take to the streets time, shut down the government of russia pretending to be our congress.

[SergeStorms]

12. Trump is a coward.

Cowards don't like being asked questions. It would eventually expose his cowardice to everyone, even his cult members. Heaven forbid Trump should lose his cult members. Of course he'd deny everything he told Mueller, even though there would be recordings and transcripts, and his loyal cult members would believe him because the DEEP STATE probably re-recorded Trump's voice and they forged all the transcripts. That DEEP STATE can do anything!

[LanternWaste]

13. That's what gives me hope-- Trump's refusal to realize his own idiocy.

And he's dumb enough to think he's smart enough to pull it off and come out of it smelling like a rose.

It's why I think Trump will not last out the term; he's the guy who, after being told something is mathematically and scientifically impossible, will say "never tell me the odds" to show how tough he pretends to be.

He thinks he can testify to Mueller and beat him. That's what gives me hope-- Trump's refusal to realize his own idiocy.

[MBS]

15. also helped by the attorneys on each side

Mueller's team - Mueller himself, of course, but also EVERYONE else on the team – is widely considered the best of the best, especially with regard to cases involving white-collar crime, the mafia, and similar thugs (all of which are relevant here ), while the Other Side's team is considered, shall we say, second-rate or third-rate at best.

[kedrys]

35. TheFerret recently called Cheeto President Dunning-Kruger Overdrive.

I think that pretty much covers it.

[Javaman]

14. he's lying. tomorrow he will say he never wanted to...

then there will be some convenient reason, that he will make up, to "prevent" him from testifying.

he's just a coward.

at the end of the day all grifters fear they will be found out.

[Texin]

17. Not really. Every con artist is a narcissist and they believe they're smarter than everyone else.

The remarkable and astonishing thing is how fucking lucky Cheeto has been throughout his worthless ass life. He's got a sort of reverse Midas touch going: everything he touches either bursts into flames or withers and dies. There's no vendor or provider of professional services in his (over) long life that hasn't been burned, stiffed or cheated. This black hole is the luckiest guy in the universe and I have no reason to believe that his luck's going run out as long as he's breathing. After that stops, well... welcome to Hell Donald.

Maybe we'll all get lucky and Argentina's intelligence agency will have him renditioned and imprisoned during the upcoming G20 Summit.

[grandpamike1]

16. Do it

You are chickenshit if you don't. Your deal making skills are legendary, and I am sure that you can easily sway Mueller to your side, with veracity. You are a weakling of a man if you cannot do battle with someone of less stature than yourself. Onward to victory I say, the nation awaits your victory.

[Maeve]

18. Oh, we'd love that too, Tiny Hands!

Under oath and in public, please!

[matt819]

20. Not a chance

He lies.

He thinks he's smarter than everyone else.

He'll find an excuse and blame it on Mueller, or Dowd, or Sater, or Nader, or Daniels. Or he won't submit to conditions. Or, or, or. . .

Or. . .

He'll agree, set a date, and show up.

But then he'll engage in political theater, storm out, and claim he's a victim of the deep state, when he realizes that Mueller knows more than he thinks and realizes his proverbial goose is overcooked.

Or something else entirely.

Because that's the way things are today.

[LiberalLovinLug]

21. I'm still wary that Trump may have been played the whole time as well

That he really did not know that Putin was helping him. Or at least how much, or how much it affected the election.

That he was such an easy mark, such a self-absorbed dotard, that they could get what they wanted from him simply through making him think he got huge loans from Russian banks, got his Miss Universe pageant, got any other real estate deals for himself or son in law, because he's such a powerful, amazing person. And all that FaceBook sabotage? He was too stupid to even understand the hows, he just assumed they were doing techie stuff. And with any grey area, he was told that it was better that he did not know.

That is one of my fears, that he'll come out clean, simply because he was too stupid to know or care, and would never believe that he needed help from anyone anyways. That it wasn't really much help at all in the end and in fact won the popular vote as well, and the MSM news really are making shit up. That his own ego, in a way, shielded him. The perfect Manchurian candidate.

And if he does come out without any serious charges, it will be worse than if this investigation never happened. Because Fox News and other RW media will then ramp up the conspiracy theorizing even more. Trump will use it as an excuse to complete his appointing of real true believing Trump humpers to lead the intelligence services so it will never be raised again.

[lark]

32. No, it's impossible to look that guilty and be innocent.

He knew about the meeting at trump tower and insisted on writing the lying cover up, personally, He knew he and all his staff were meeting with russians and talking about russia and he knew about the server connected to a russian bank. He was the one that wanted the "secure line that our intelligence services couldn't tap", he was the one that told Russia about the "eyes only" Israeli information, he's the one that talked to Putin for 2 hours and knew about Clintons emails be hacked before anyone else. Why did he try to hide all this is he didnt understand it was illegal? Nope, he totally knew enough to hang him - he is a proven traitor and criminal.

IMO

[LiberalLovinLug]

36. "he is a proven traitor and criminal"

See, that is not the case.

And you can ask yourself "why" all day long to those suspicious circumstantial events, but unless there is a provable "because" he could walk free. If all his minions do what they are told and dutifully fall on their swords as well....

I just am not going to get too excited too early. I was one harassed on here and called a "concern troll" in the week leading up to the election for saying that I thought Trump had a good chance of still winning. I really hope I am just being overly concerned this time.

Mueller's work may still be successful in that he will expose the dirty ring that surrounded candidate and now President Dufus, that worked with Putin to spread fake news. That it worked to even dupe dumb Don, their useful idiot. (into believing that it was he and he alone that did all the work to get elected). Also, Mueller may indeed even find financial misdeeds, business crimes against Trump, but at least those could be dismissed as having nothing to do with politics. He'll get a slap on the wrist by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and things will go on. Only this time he will be fortified with the non-verdict going into the 2020 election, as well as a full raging I-told-you-so deplorable army at the voting booths.

[lark]

38. I get your concern, but was choosing to reply in a hopeful way.

I try to hope and work for the best, but be aware of factors that may cause that not to happen. All to often I too face the downside, what if drumpf is proven to have conspired against the USA, he pardons himself and the repug SCOTUS approves this 5-4, while russian repugs in Congress do nothing. At that point I believe we will be officially a fascist country and will resume trying to talk my husband into moving to Portugal with me. I much prefer the previous scenario, lol.

[LiberalLovinLug]

41. Good on ya

What you surmise is possible. But more unlikely. I really think that enough of the US population would at last rise up if that happened. If he was actually found guilty and was still protected by the GOP.

That's why its even more of a fear if he manages to squeak through any serious charges, because then his deplorable army will have all the ammunition they need to counter any criticism of him in future as being a fake news witch hunt, and they will have Mueller, no less, as their back up. Gawd, Fox News will have a field day.

I joined DU in the heat of post 9/11, to immerse myself into a counter-war community for my own sanity. And I just got sick of the "This is it!...Bush is going down!" "Cheney is going to prison!" ad nauseum for years. Neither of those criminals ever paid for their crimes.

But I have to be more optimistic. Or I'll drive myself crazy. Thanks for your hopeful energy!

[meadowlander]

44. Yes but,

there is not a snowball's chance in hell that Trump didn't know his son, son-in-law and campaign manager were meeting with a Russian lawyer to get dirt on Hillary Clinton.

And if he didn't think there was anything wrong with it, why did he help craft a press statement to lie about it? And then fire James Comey, and then persecute and fire Andrew McCabe? And then fire Sally Yates for telling him that Mike Flynn was a foreign agent? And put pressure on Jeff Sessions to quit? And pressure the intelligence chiefs, DoJ and FBI to drop the investigation?

He knew and he obviously cares because he's done nothing for sixteen months except try to cover his ass.

And he's up to his neck in money laundering, bank fraud and tax evasion charges not to mention violations of the emoluments clause and illegal campaign payouts and donations. Mueller has the best forensic accountants in the world and they have access to his tax returns and to his Deutsche Bank account information.

He is going down hard.

[lagomorph777]

47. No credible way that's possible. He colludes on TV. He colludes by refusing to enforce sanctions.

He visibly colludes and obstructs justice all the time. The crimes are right out in the open and he adds more crimes every day. Mueller only needs to write it all down, gather up some recordings and e-mails from the NSA, and bring it to a grand jury.

Not that I mean to minimize Mueller's work. I'm just making the point that Trump is most obviously guilty and there's definitely no possibility that he's a hapless dupe. He's right at the center of it and running the show (well, he's Putin's governor of the USA Province).

[DeminPennswoods]

22. I think he should go for it on live TV!

Just point a camera on him, turn on the red light and away we go!

[old guy]

23. Liar.

[Chakaconcarne]

24. Fodder for Fox News tonight, so they don't have to cover the resignation, lawsuits, etc....

and can change the narrative to Trump the brave and not Trump the buffoon scaring away his lawyer.

[COLGATE4]

25. The real bottom line is if Mueller is willing to

issue a subpoena to bring Dumpy before a Grand Jury. If Mueller is prepared to do it (which I personally don't doubt for a second) Dumpy's options decrease by a factor of about 1000%. He can stall, he can throw up legal smokescreens but once the subpoena is issued he is eventually going to have to waltz into the Grand Jury Room alone - no lawyers - and face Mueller or whichever Prosecutor Mueller chooses. I find it hard to imagine that even Dumpy would be so stupid as to willingly go that route. Although with Dumpy we've already seen that normal limits of ignorance don't seem to apply.

[LiberalLovinLug]

37. Love to see Mueller call his bluff and issue the subpoena on the grounds that Trump had agreed anywa

That Trump had indicated he would talk anyways, so why not make it "official"? Just to keep it all by the book so to speak.

Then watch Trump or his new lawyer, whomever that is, scream bloody murder, looking like idiots because Trump had just said he had no problem with it WITHOUT a subpoena so why the stubborness WITH one?

[MGKrebs]

26. Maybe Trumpy will take a swing at him.

[ehrnst]

27. S.Sanders will backpedal later today, saying, "What he really meant was...."

He wants to in the sense that any citizen want to cooperate with law enforcement as a concept...

He meant he would like to "sit down" with Mueller, over a piece of that fabulous chocolate cake at Trump Resorts...

[duforsure]

28. Don't believe it

I think all along he's tried to project an image of cooperation when really they haven't. I don't think he ever planned on testifying, and will fire Mueller instead because he thinks he has the right to do anything he pleases , including putting himself above the law. He also has stuff on members of Congress. Did he get dirt on them legally, I doubt it, but he has done this many times before. I wouldn't put it past him he has wiretapped people to collect dirt on them. He'll come up with a ridiculous claim against Mueller like he's done to others, then claim he's really the victim from some stupid conspiracy, probably from this new attorney to please his base with. He's a total fraud so don't look for it to happen. He knows if he goes he'll have to lie, a lot too.

[Turbineguy]

29. Yeah, he thinks Mueller will be impressed

by his usual bullshit like the dolts who voted for him.

[Julian Englis]

30. I hope he does testify--particularly if Cobb quits and Emmet Flood isn't

tRump's current legal defense team, with the exception of Cobb, is made up of,at best, 3d rate attorneys.

If tRump doesn't hire an attorney the caliber of Emmet Flood to run his defense--and follow that attorney's counsel--tRump will be cooked.

Mueller's people will have tRump incriminating himself, perjuring himself, or--most likely--both.

I just hope tRump doesn't a top-rate legal team or, if he does, ignores the team's advice.

[marylandblue]

31. Trump will testify, Dowd was holding him back

I watched videos of him testifying in a case. He really comes across as a dumbass who thinks he is the smartest guy in the room. He doesn't know what he signs. He doesn't know the law, but thinks he does. When his attorneys try to object to a question, he waves them off. He falls into obvious traps.

Dowd was right to try to block his testimony, and it's no accident that he repeats his willingness to do so on the day Dowd resigns.

[chelsea0011]

33. Well, do it already. Who's stopping you?

[flibbitygiblets]

34. And then, the old Grump, he had an idea...a wonderfully, terribly, awful idea!!

"I'll fool him" he thought
"So clever am I,
I'll use bigly charm,
and tell him a lie!"



You're a rotten orange with .....frighteningly fascist ideaaaaaassssss.......

[coeur_de_lion]

39. Oh please please please testify

[MurrayDelph]

40. He "wants" to testify

and will get to it right after he releases his taxes.


And Melania holds that press event to discuss her immigration history.

[truthisfreedom]

42. Mommy, I want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane!

“Not unless you wear a parachute and strap yourself to an expert, baby.”

“No, mommy, no! I want to jump now!!!”

[meadowlander]

43. Just wait til he realises he doesn't need a lawyer either.

[Orsino]

45. Therefore he doesn't.

That was easy.