President Trump refused to sit for an interview with investigators, former special counsel Robert Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

Mr. Mueller said his team made multiple overtures to the president over the span of a year, but all of their efforts were rebuffed.

Instead, Mr. Trump submitted written answers to questions from the special counsel’s office.

“Did the president refuse a request to be interviewed by you and your team?” asked House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler.

“Yes,” Mr. Mueller replied.

“And is it true you tried for more than a year to secure an interview with you with the president?” Mr. Nadler said.

“Yes,” Mr. Mueller replied again.

He confirmed that he explained to Mr. Trump that it was in the best interest of the presidency and the public for an interview to take place, but the president wouldn’t budge.

In a later hearing before the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Mueller explained why he didn’t subpoena the president.

“When we were almost towards the end of our investigation, and we had little success in pushing to get the interview of the President, we decided that we did not want to exercise the subpoena powers because of the necessity of expediting the end the investigation,” he said.

He continued: “The expectation was if we did subpoena the President, he would fight the subpoena, and we would be in the midst of the investigation for a substantial period of time.”

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.