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The
questions from Special Counsel Robert Mueller that Trump is
preparing to answer relate only to Moscow's involvement in the
election, and not to whether Trump may have tried to obstruct
the Russia investigation, the source told Reuters.
Among the topics covered is a June 2016 meeting between the
president's son, Donald Trump Jr., other members of Trump's
campaign team and a group of Russians, the source said.
Trump met with his lawyers this week in anticipation of
responding to the questions, according to the source.
Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for Trump, declined to comment, as did
Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel.
Trump's lawyers have been negotiating with Mueller's team since
last year over whether he will sit for an interview. That
question still has not been settled, the source said on Tuesday.
Last month, Giuliani told Reuters that Trump would be willing to
answer questions in writing on whether his campaign had colluded
with Moscow to influence the 2016 election, but not whether he
had acted to obstruct the Russia probe.
It is not clear whether Mueller may press Trump to try to answer
questions on obstruction at some point.
In an NBC News interview last year, Trump tied his May 2017
decision to fire FBI director James Comey to the investigation
into Russian election meddling. At the time of his firing, Comey
was leading the investigation.
Trump last summer denied knowing about the Trump Tower meeting
with Russians who had promised damaging information about
Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
But Trump dictated a statement from Air Force One about the
meeting that Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for Trump's legal
team, viewed as false, a person familiar told Reuters in
January. The statement issued by Trump Jr. said that he and
Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya "primarily discussed a
program about the adoption of Russian children."
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered
in the election to try to tip it toward Trump by undermining
Democratic candidate Clinton. Moscow has denied any
interference, while Trump has denied any collusion with Russia
and any obstruction of justice.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld, Tim Ahmann; Editing by Sandra
Maler and James Dalgleish, Grant McCool)
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