It is "disgraceful" that a list of Russia inquiry questions prepared for the president has been leaked to media, says US President Donald Trump.
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller (L) and US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into possible Russian meddling in the 2016 election, reportedly gave the list to Mr Trump's legal team.
The New York Times says it has obtained the list of more than 40 questions.
Mr Trump appeared to confirm the report on Twitter, repeating his claim that the Russia inquiry is a "witch hunt".
So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were “leaked” to the media. No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see...you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2018
He later tweeted on Tuesday morning: "It would seem very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened."
White House spokesman Raj Shah said on Tuesday that the Times report was "troubling".
"The entire premise of this investigation was on this topic of collusion and the overwhelming focus of the questions is not on that topic," he said.
The special counsel is looking into Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 US election, whether there was any collusion between the Kremlin and Mr Trump's election campaign and whether the president unlawfully tried to obstruct the inquiry.
Mr Mueller was appointed special counsel following Mr Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey last May.
The president insists there was no collusion between his election campaign and the Russians.
US media reported that sources familiar with the case said Mr Mueller informed Mr Trump's attorneys in March that he is a subject of the investigations, but not a criminal target.
It remains unclear when Mr Mueller will request a meeting with the president.
The list of questions appeared to confirm that John Dowd, the president's former lead lawyer for the Russia investigation resigned in March after he concluded that the president was increasingly ignoring his advice regarding Mr Mueller.
Mr Dowd had received information about Mr Mueller's questions from the special counsel's team, and his resignation came about a week and a half later.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr Trump's new lawyer for the investigation, met with Mr Mueller last week, according to the newspaper.
Mr Mueller's current list reportedly ranges from questioning the president's motivations in firing former FBI director James Comey last May to his treatment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions after his recusal from the Russia investigation.
One of the questions directly refers to Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, asking what knowledge Mr Trump may have had about Mr Manafort's outreach to Russia.
Mr Mueller also plans on asking Mr Trump about his election campaign's possible co-ordination with Russia, according to the Times, which said it obtained the list from someone outside of the president's attorneys.
- BBC
