President said on Friday he answered the written questions ‘very easily’ but did not indicate when he would turn them in

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Donald Trump said on Friday that he has answered written questions from special counsel Robert Mueller but has not yet submitted them.

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The president told reporters in the Oval Office that he answered the questions “very easily” this week about the special counsel’s ongoing investigation into 2016 election interference and possible ties between Russia and the president’s campaign.

“You have to always be careful when you answer questions with people that probably have bad intentions,” said Trump in his latest swipe at the integrity of the investigation. “But no, the questions were very routinely answered by me.”

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Trump did not say when he would turn over the answers to Mueller. The special counsel had signaled a willingness to accept written answers on matters of collusion but Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, has said repeatedly that president would not answer Mueller’s questions on possible obstruction of justice.

Trump had huddled with lawyers at the White House this week but made clear: “My lawyers don’t write answers, I write answers.”

He continued to maintain his innocence while launching a fresh round of attacks on the investigation, saying “there should have never been any Mueller investigation” while claiming it was a waste of millions of dollars.

ButTrump denied being “agitated” by the investigation despite his outburst of critical tweets the day before.

“The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess,” Trump tweeted Thursday as part of a series of overheated morning posts. The investigators did not care “how many lives they can ruin”, he wrote.

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation and don’t...

While the special counsel was publicly quiet in the run-up to last week’s midterm elections, his investigation has suddenly returned to the forefront of Washington conversation and cable news chyrons.

Rumors are reverberating that Mueller may be preparing more indictments and there has been widespread media coverage of two Trump allies, Roger Stone and Jerome Corsi, who say they expect to be charged.

Trump’s flurry of attacks came despite repeated warnings from his aides to refrain from targeting the special counsel.