Possible interview between president and special counsel has been matter of contention as Trump feared ‘perjury trap’

The special counsel Robert Mueller will reportedly accept some written answers from Donald Trump about collusion with Russia.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Mueller made the concession in a letter to Trump’s private lawyers. The letter did not address questioning over whether Trump obstructed justice in an attempt to thwart the investigation.

Trump’s willingness to sit down with Mueller has long been a subject of contention. In an Oval Office interview with Reuters in August, Trump worried that such an interview would be a “perjury trap”. However, he has said in previous interviews that he is “looking forward” to an interview with Mueller and that he “would love to do it”.

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In his forthcoming book Fear, the author Bob Woodward reports Trump’s then personal attorney John Dowd was convinced that the president would perjure himself in an interview with Mueller.

According to Woodward, Dowd later explained his reluctance to let Trump testify to the special counsel, saying: “I’m not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot.” Dowd went on to express his concerns that foreign leaders would see the transcript of the interview and say: “I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?’ ”

So far in his investigation, Mueller has obtained six guilty pleas as well as the conviction of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort.