Trump opposed to aides testifying to Congress on Mueller report: Washington Post

[April 24, 2019]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is opposed to current and former White House aides testifying to congressional committees on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, the Washington Post quoted him as saying on Tuesday.

In an interview with the newspaper, Trump said the White House cooperated with Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and did not need to comply with congressional committees, which are probing possible obstruction of justice by Trump.

"There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan - obviously very partisan," Trump said, according to the Post.

Earlier, the Post reported that the White House was planning to oppose a subpoena issued by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee for former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify.

The Post said the White House planned to assert executive privilege to prevent McGahn and other current and former Trump administration officials from testifying.

Trump said the White House lawyers had not "made a final, final decision" about whether to assert executive privilege, according to the Post.

But Trump said he opposed cooperating with House Democrats, who he said were trying to score political points against him.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he greets supporters on the tarmac at Palm Beach International Airport, as he arrives to spend Easter weekend at his Mar-a-Lago club, Florida, U.S., April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Al Drago

“I don’t want people testifying to a party, because that is what they’re doing if they do this,” the Post quoted Trump as saying.

According to the Mueller report, Trump called McGahn in June 2017 to say he should tell Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to remove the special counsel because he had conflicts of interest. McGahn did not carry out the order.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Peter Cooney)

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