The disciplined silence of Robert Mueller has introduced a curious asymmetry into the roiling public debate over his otherwise soap-operatic Russia investigation. While the special counsel and his spokesperson have declined to say much of anything over the past year and a half, allowing their charging documents to speak for them, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has become a fixture of the cable-news greenroom, serving as a voluble—and often unreliable—mouthpiece for the president. On various occasions, the former New York City mayor has relayed unsubstantiated claims about Mueller’s case. In recent weeks, however, as the Russia probe grinds toward a conclusion, Giuliani has begun using his ubiquitous presence on TV to set wildly unrealistic expectations for Mueller’s investigation. Are these more screwball antics from an attorney who can’t control his client, or is there method to Giuliani’s madness?

The answer is likely a mixture of both. A particular focus of Giuliani’s interviews in recent days has the negotiations over Trump’s testimony, which is expected to be the capstone of Mueller’s inquiry into potential obstruction of justice. The two sides have been engaged in talks over the high-stakes sit-down since last year, but have yet to reach an agreement. Part of the problem is Trump himself: while the president is convinced he can talk his way out of trouble, his legal team has never shared his enthusiasm. To square this circle, Giuliani has floated a series of unreasonable constraints on the interview, while trying to pass them off as completely reasonable. “We’ll leave a little wiggle room,” the Trump lawyer said in an interview with Politico on Tuesday. “It’s not so much obstruction questions. It’s really sucker punches.”

What Giuliani refers to as “sucker punches,” however, are the central topics Mueller is examining. Among the topics Giuliani wants to make off-limits, Axios reports, are why Trump fired James Comey and what he said to the former F.B.I. director about his short-lived national security adviser, Mike Flynn. Such conditions are certainly nonstarters for Mueller. After all, Comey’s ouster and the conversation about Flynn are paramount to determining whether Trump obstructed justice. This reality is certainly not lost on Giuliani. While America’s Mayor has become increasingly unhinged in interviews, even the most casual followers of the Russia affair know these two topics are critical to the obstruction probe.

Shifting these goalposts is the foundation of Giuliani’s public-relations strategy. While Mueller declines to comment, Trump’s lawyer is casting himself as meeting Mueller halfway. Then, when the special counsel dismisses the conditions, Giuliani can shrug it off and say, “We tried.” In the meantime, by setting unreasonable limits on the interview that Mueller is assured to reject, Giuliani benefits from running down the clock. With each passing week at an impasse, the 2018 midterms inch closer, raising the political stakes for Mueller. If the two sides go to court over the president’s testimony, legal experts predict the special counsel would likely win the constitutional argument before the Supreme Court. Still, that process could take months—and Trump nominee Brett Kavanaugh could cause trouble on the bench. Giuliani, meanwhile, is continuing to up the ante. During an interview with Fox News host and Trump ally Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, Giuliani put an arbitrary deadline on the Mueller investigation. “This should be over by September 1. We have now given him an answer, he obviously should take a few days to consider it, but we should get this resolved,” he said, referring to the most recent interview proposal from his camp. “If there is going to be an interview, let’s have it. If there’s not going to be an interview, let him write his report.”