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US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump says that he is fearful of undergoing an interview by Special Counsel Robert Mueller due to such a talk representing a ‘perjury trap’.
Trump has also said that he could take over Mueller’s investigation, concerning at alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, but has decided to stay out of it.
In an interview with Reuters, Trump effectively rehashed similar claims regarding a so-called perjury trap made in recent days by his lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Trump has repeatedly insisted that Mueller’s investigation is a ‘witch hunt’.
He told Reuters that any statement he might make to 73-year-old Mueller could end up being compared to that made by others, such as former FBI director James Comey, whom Trump fired and who has since been one of the president’s most outspoken critics.
“So if I say something and he says something, and it’s my word against his, and he’s best friends with Mueller, so Mueller might say: ‘Well, I believe Comey’, and even if I’m telling the truth, that makes me a liar. That’s no good,” Trump said.
He added that, should he wish to do so, he has the power to run the investigation himself.
“I’ve decided to stay out. Now I don’t have to stay out. I can go in, and I could do whatever – I could run it if I want. But I decided to stay out,” he said.
I’m totally allowed to be involved if I wanted to be. So far, I haven’t chosen to be involved. I’ll stay out.
Giuliani, a former mayor of New York, joined the Trump team as the president’s lawyer in early May.
He has since stood accused of making a series of gaffes when discussing Trump’s legal position, including saying that Trump had repaid a ‘hush payment’ made to porn star Stormy Daniels regarding an alleged affair between her and the president in 2006.
On Sunday, Giuliani first posited the idea of a perjury trap being laid for Trump in the shape of any conversation he might have with Mueller in an interview with NBC.
“I’m not going to be rushed into having him testify so he can be trapped into perjury,” he said. He added, when pressed, that “truth isn’t truth”, a comment that was greeted with derision in US media.
“When you tell me that he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth and he shouldn’t worry, well that’s so silly because it’s somebody’s version of the truth. Not the truth,” he said.
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Quick, close the comments before we influence the outcome of some future case
@Lambo Moonski: If the Journal wasn’t such a major influence on American domestic policy, it would be ok.
There is no such thing as a ‘Perjury Trap’ unless you can be proven beyond reasonable doubt to be lying.
The more Trump lies, squirms, lashes out and attacks the investigation, the guiltier he looks.
@alphanautica: Yeah, I’m reading this as ” we don’t want him to testify in case he’s caught lying”.
Rudy’s comment encapsulates the whole thing though: Truth is not truth.
They’ve brought Orwell back to life and employed him as a joke writer.
@alphanautica: He is trying to set a narrative before the inevitable where he is caught in a lie
@alphanautica: yeah I don’t think he realises that the burden of proof is always on the prosecution.
@Kal Ipers: Caught in a lie! He’s been caught in nearly 3 thousand since he took office. The man is just a pathological liar.
@Hugh Corcoran: He is up to 4229 as of Aug 1st…..
@Hugh Corcoran: The thing is if he lies to the CIA or the FBI it is automatically a federal offence. He can lie to everybody else without any problem. I agree he can’t tell the truth but that is why they are trying to stop him talking to them because once he starts talking he will lie and commit a federal offense.
When will he be signing the executive order to ensure that the “I might perjure myself” defence is available on an equal basis to all those US citizens who find themselves suspected of crimes and who might like any investigation/trial to be stopped? I’m sure that would play well with “the base”.
He card read good
Where are all the Trump defenders? Have they all gone off to build the wall? Or gone to Moscow for a refresher course?
@Martello Mulligan: Most of them don’t read the endless anti-Trump Journal “news” anymore.
@John Molloy: Nah! I have an inkling that the journal has banned a couple of lads that had multiple accounts on here.Looks like Putin-Bot’s experiment could have bitten him in his a£$ ..
@Francis Mc Carthy: Agreed, they’d be all over this if they hadn’t been banned.
@Clever Jake: If that is him,then he’d wanna be extremely careful with that account of theirs …a birdie has told me that it is virtually impossible to open a new twitter account on here ;-) So at the moment I’m still standing over my opening comment ;-)
What is this ‘truth’ lark? My truth is truer than your truth?
The star spangled gob5hite strikes again.
what a clown trump is -
@Liam: don’t insult clowns!
@Liam:
He’s playing to the intellectual level of his base.
Jeez Trump must be doing some late night reading about Irish Tribunals
““I’ve decided to stay out. Now I don’t have to stay out. I can go in, and I could do whatever – I could run it if I want. But I decided to stay out,” he said. ”
He literally goes on like a 5 year old, id say its embarrassing but it has been for months.
At this stage he’s essentially a parody of himself. In all seriousness and fashionable trump-baiting aside; nobody can genuinely have confidence in this guy and his government.
just tell the truth so…..
“perjury trap”
“truth isn’t truth”
You couldn’t make this sh*t up!
Animal Farm springs to mind.
A bit off topic but Michael Shannon’s interview when asked would he play him is class…
“He’s having a blast! Are you f*c*ing kidding me? That guy is having so much fun… He’s having the time of his f*c*ing life. He doesn’t even have to work. All the hard work that most people have to do to be president of the United States, he just f*c*ing skipped all that. The f*c*ing guy doesn’t even know what’s in the Constitution. He doesn’t have any grasp of history or politics or law or anything. He’s just blindfolded throwing darts at the side of a bus.”
@chinaski: class…
@EdmundOrlando: aaaaand the journal removes half the post. Long live censorship…..
But he is a liar, as proven several times over since he took office.
@Dermot Lane: Several THOUSAND lies
As of May 1st “President Trump has made 3,001 false or misleading claims so far” (and considering how prolific he’s been recently I suspect it’s increased dramatically since then)
@Dermot Lane: He is up to 4229 as of Aug 1st…..
His buddy Putin investigates himself all the time. He always is blameless also.
He should take a page out of Hillary ‘I cant recall’ Clinton’s book.
@Conor Treacy: Hey lads,I’ve found another Putin bot!
Legally, it is true.
In the U.S., the departments and their officers are merely extensions of his office. And he can direct any one at will. It’s a principle known as “unitary executive”.
If he ever acted on that power, I’d expect an apoplectic reaction from Congress though.
Yeah the more stuff coming out of tweeter man Trump
reminds me of a quote from a song by Leonard Cohen
They locked up a man:
Who wanted to rule the world:
The fools: They locked up the wrong man .
There are people like Trump in our country and in all countries, but they are normally accompanied by a nurse. They are not President!
have your say