Donald Trump’s lawyers have told him not to agree to an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, fearful he would lie to investigators and place himself in legal jeopardy, the New York Times reported Monday.

The president told reporters last month he was looking forward to speaking with Mueller to prove “there has been no collusion whatsoever” between his campaign and Russia.

But four people briefed on the matter told the Times that Trump’s attorneys – John Dowd and his deputy, Jay Sekulow – and other key advisers had told him to refuse an interview. They’re concerned that Trump, an habitual liar prone to making contradictory statements, will face charges if he lies to the probe.

Refusing an interview would set the stage for a potentially messy legal showdown, one that would place the whole affair under an unwelcome spotlight, and fuel public perceptions that Trump is hiding something. But that’s a risk many close to the president have been advising, in public and behind the scenes.

“The idea of putting Trump in a room with five or six hardened, very clever lawyers, all of whom are trying to trick him and trap him, would be a very, very bad idea,” Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and an adviser to Trump in an informal capacity, said on “Fox and Friends” last month.

The Times reported that Trump’s team is also betting that Mueller will ultimately be unwilling to subpoena the president in a bid to compel him to participate in the interview. The lawyers also believe that Mueller’s team lacks the legal standing to interview the president in some areas, such as his role in drafting the false statement about the meeting Donald Trump Jr. had with Russians, and that in other areas the president cannot be questioned on acts that were legal.

Not all of Trump’s advisers are in agreement, the Times reported. Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer Trump hired in July to oversee the response to the investigation, believes the president should comply with all of Mueller’s requests. But Dowd has insisted publicly in the past that he will be the one making the call.

“I will make the decision on whether the President talks to the special counsel," he told CNN last month. "I have not made any decision yet.”

Cover image: Donald Trump departs the White House February 2, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)