Rep. Adam Schiff speculated that Robert Mueller’s decision not to interview Donald Trump may have been related to a longstanding Justice Department policy against indicting sitting presidents. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Mueller Investigation Schiff: 'It was a mistake' not to interview Trump in Mueller probe

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller made “a mistake” by not interviewing President Donald Trump as part of his investigation into Russia's election interference.

“I’ve said this all along: It was a mistake to rely on written responses by the president,” Schiff told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week,” as those premeditated answers to prosecutors’ queries are “generally more what the lawyer has to say than what the individual has to say.


“I can certainly understand why the lawyers like [Trump attorney Rudy] Giuliani were fighting this because the president is someone who seems pathologically incapable of telling the truth for long periods of time,” Schiff (D-Calif.) said.

“But, nonetheless, if you really do want the truth, you need to put people under oath, and that should have been done,” he said.

Schiff speculated that Mueller’s decision not to interview Trump may have been related to a longstanding Justice Department policy against indicting sitting presidents and any further negotiation between Mueller's prosecutors and Trump’s legal team would have unnecessarily prolonged the probe.

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“The special counsel may have made the decision that, as he could not indict a sitting president on the obstruction issue, as it would draw out his investigation, that that didn't make sense,” Schiff said.