President Donald Trump may have to testify to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is heading up the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump has a long legal history, and has provided testimony to lawyers a handful of times, and it's usually pretty colorful and over the top.

The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of pages of depositions taken of Trump in the past decade, and if they're any indication of what to expect in the future, Mueller's interview with Trump could be a train wreck.



WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump was in a roomful of lawyers, venting about unfair treatment in the media that he said had understated his net worth and damaged his brand.

It was December 2007, a decade before Trump would become president and routinely excoriate reporters for “fake news.” This time, the businessman was facing a daylong deposition in his lawsuit against a journalist he’d accused of downplaying his wealth.

Had he, one lawyer wanted to know, ever lied about his real estate properties? I try not to, Trump said. Ever exaggerated? Who wouldn’t, he replied.

“You always want to put the best possible spin on a property that you can,” Trump explained. “No different than any other real estate developer, no different than any other businessman, no different than any politician.”

That exchange and others like it could be instructive as Trump braces for the possibility of an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators, who are looking into potential coordination between Russia and his presidential campaign, and into possible obstruction of justice.

The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of pages of depositions taken of Trump in the past decade, including in contract and defamation lawsuits. The interviews, taken together, not only reflect his deep experience in providing sworn statements to lawyers but also offer clues to a rhetorical style that could again be on display in the event Trump is questioned by Mueller’s team.

The transcripts reveal a witness who is by turns voluble, giving expansive answers far beyond the questions asked; boastful, using unrelated queries to expound on his wealth or popularity; unapologetic, swift to defend incendiary comments or criticized actions; and occasionally combative, once deriding a lawyer for “very stupid” questions.

The garrulous style belies the “just the facts, ma’am” approach many defense lawyers advocate.

“On the one hand, you generally tell witnesses not to volunteer, to answer the question as asked,” said New York lawyer Gary Naftalis. “Don’t answer a question that isn’t asked. You always tell the witness not to guess or speculate or try to fill in the blanks.”

Yet there’s an unmistakable deftness, too, a tendency by Trump to pass blame for certain decisions, to deflect probing questions to lawyers or accountants and to answer others with hedged, vague or non-responsive language that frustrates his interrogators.