Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is preparing to move forward with its investigation without interviewing President Trump after a potential meeting was derailed following a raid on the office of Trump’s lawyer, NBC News reported on Thursday.
Both Mueller’s team and Trump’s lawyers are reportedly no longer planning for the interview to take place, apparently ending weeks of growing speculation that Trump could be preparing to talk to investigators.
{mosads}
Mueller’s team was reportedly still in talks with the White House as late as this Monday regarding an interview, but those talks ended later in the day when news broke of the FBI’s raid on Cohen’s home, office and hotel room, according to NBC.
Trump slammed the raid as a “disgrace” and an attack on the country, and complained that his attorney-client privilege had been violated by the raid.
“It’s a real disgrace,” Trump told reporters at the White House Monday afternoon. “It’s an attack on what we all stand for.”
“Attorney-client privilege is dead!” he added on Twitter Tuesday morning.
Two sources told NBC that Mueller’s team originally planned to present a report on possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in May or July, but that the lack of an interview with Trump pushed up that timeline.
The raid has reignited speculation that the president could move to fire the special counsel, an action that Trump and White House officials have consistently denied for months but one that the president said has been suggested to him by allies.
On Thursday, Trump tweeted that he and his legal team were cooperating with the probe.
“I have agreed with the historically cooperative, disciplined approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller (Unlike the Clintons!). I have full confidence in Ty Cobb, my Special Counsel, and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday.