ROBERT MUELLER/RUDY GIULIANI/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump’s lawyers on Wednesday [8-8-18] submitted a counteroffer to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s proposal for the terms of a possible interview with the president, the latest turn in the protracted negotiations over a sit-down stretching back to January. The counteroffer largely sticks to the terms the president’s legal team outlined last month, a person familiar with the matter said: The president’s lawyers would be open to questions about collusion with Russia, but wished to limit inquires related to obstruction of justice. Rudy Giuliani, one of the president’s lawyers, said in an interview that the team’s proposal was ‘a little bit different than what we recommended before, but not terribly.’ He said the legal team had ‘left open’ the possibility to investigators that the president would answer a question on obstruction of justice ‘if they can show us an obstruction question that they need an answer to, where they haven’t gotten an answer.’ Mr. Giuliani said that in the special counsel’s last offer, Mr. Mueller agreed to decrease the number of questions posed to the president, but hasn’t agreed to the Trump team’s request to curb obstruction of justice inquiries.”
– Rebecca Ballhaus, “Trump Lawyers Respond to Robert Mueller’s Terms for Interview With the President,” The Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2018