Uh oh: Trump says he's willing to answer Mueller's questions under oath

Trump should reconsider, and not because I think he did anything wrong with respect to Russia. I don't. Actually, it's the fact that there clearly was no collusion between Trump and Russia that makes this so dangerous. When special counsels are coming up empty in the cases they were originally trying to make, they end up falling back on process crimes to justify the time and expense put into their investigation. And that usually means someone gets charged with perjury for what they told the special counsel in the course of the investigation, even if the underlying alleged crime is never found to have happened. That's how Patrick Fitzgerald got Scooter Libby, and it looks like it's how Mueller hopes to get Trump.

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But why fear perjury, you ask? Just tell the truth if you have nothing to hide? Sure, if all Mueller is after is facts and understanding, Trump would have nothing to worry about. But experienced interrogators are skilled at asking questions designed to trap you in inconsistencies. The only way to go about it if you're the one being grilled is to be extremely disciplined and say as little as possible. Does that sound like our president? Yikes:

“I‘m looking forward to it, actually,” Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said of an interview with Mueller, a former FBI director. “I would do it under oath.” Although Trump has pledged cooperation with Mueller’s probe before, Trump made his assertion as the White House and allies in Congress have stepped up attacks on the investigation’s credibility and Trump himself has hedged on whether he would answer questions. Trump’s attorneys have been talking to Mueller’s team about an interview, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation. “I would like to do it as soon as possible,” Trump said. Trump said, however, that setting a date certain for an interview would be “subject to my lawyers and all of that.” Asked whether he thought Mueller would treat him fairly, Trump replied: “We’re going to find out.”

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Ty Cobb, the lawyer in charge of the White House response to Mueller’s probe, said in a statement that Trump was speaking hurriedly to reporters before departing on his trip to Davos, Switzerland. Cobb said Trump emphasized that he remained committed to cooperating with the investigation and looked forward to speaking with Mueller. Cobb said Mueller’s team and Trump’s personal lawyers were working out the arrangements for a meeting.

Ty Cobb hit .367 lifetime, by the way. Trump would get hammered by the media if he refused to answer Mueller's questions under oath, but he gets hammered by the media for tying his shoelaces. There's no reason he should be concerned about that. What I'm concerned about is that Mueller will not only try to trap him in some sort of technical-if-insignificant untruth, but that as soon as it happens someone on Mueller's team will leak it to the media even as a grand jury is formed to indict the president for "lying" about a crime that never happened. Mueller is that determined not to wrap this charade up without taking Trump down in some way, however flimsy. The argument will be that Bill Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice. But Clinton flat-out lied about the Lewinsky affair, and instructed those around him to tell the same lie. As far as we know, Trump has done nothing of the sort, yet he's going to put himself at risk of being led into a lie while under oath. This is a bad idea. Trump should not do it.

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