Mueller has list of questions for Trump

Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russias election interference, has at least four dozen questions he wants to ask President Donald Trump to learn more about his ties to Moscow, a media report said.

The open-ended queries appear to be an attempt to penetrate the President's thinking, to get at the motivation behind some of his most combative Twitter posts and to examine his relationships with his family and his closest advisers, The New York Times report said on Monday.

The questions deal mainly with Trump's high-profile firings of former FBI Director James Comey and his first National Security Adviser Michael Flynn; his treatment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions; and a 2016 Trump Tower meeting between campaign officials and Russians offering dirt on former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

They also touch on the President's businesses; discussions with his longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen about a Moscow real estate deal; whether Trump knew of any attempt by his son-in-law Jared Kushner to set up a back channel to Russia during the transition; any contacts he had with Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime adviser who claimed to have inside information about Democratic email hackings; and what happened during Trump's 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant.

"What efforts were made to reach out to Flynn about seeking immunity or possible pardon?" Mueller planned to ask, according to questions read by the special counsel investigators to the President's lawyers, who compiled them into a list.

A few questions reveal that Mueller is still investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

In one of the inquiries, Mueller asks what Trump knew about campaign aides, including the former chairman Paul Manafort, seeking assistance from Moscow, The New York Times reported.

Mueller has sought for months to question the president, who has in turn expressed a desire, at times, to be interviewed, viewing it as an avenue to end the inquiry more quickly.

So far, four people, including Flynn, have pleaded guilty to lying to investigators in the Russia inquiry.

--IANS

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