Former US Solicitor General Ken Starr said Monday it’s “probable” that President Donald Trump will be interviewed face-to-face by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“(Mueller) needs to, in order to round out, complete his investigation, to come to a decision. He needs to look the President in the eye and ask him the appropriate questions,” Starr told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day.”
Starr said he has not yet seen evidence of obstruction of justice, but added that “we don’t know what Bob Mueller knows, so the jury is out. He’s finding out facts, so my view is let him do his job.”
Starr said that the terms of the meeting would probably be negotiated.
“The last thing you would want would be to have the President be subpoenaed,” he added.
Starr led the Whitewater investigation, which ultimately led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment. Clinton was subpoenaed by a federal judge in order to testify at the criminal trial.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, also told CNN’s “New Day” on Monday that he predicted the special counsel will “unquestionably” interview Trump face-to-face this year.
“My view is it will probably happen sometime this year. We’re going to have more convictions,” Blumenthal told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota.
When asked by a reporter over the weekend if he would meet with Mueller if requested, Trump responded, “yeah,” but then immediately deflected to say there was “no collusion” between his campaign and Russian meddling in last year’s election. Trump did not clarify his remarks.
Blumenthal speculated that more indictments may be on the way.
“I think that the evidence accumulating against individuals within the White House, within the administration, the mounting evidence of obstruction of justice that’s public, and we have no idea all of what’s available to the special counsel,” Blumenthal said.