WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s lawyers have urged him to refuse to sit down with Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of the probe into his campaign’s ties with Russia, The New York Times reported Monday.

However, Trump himself has repeatedly stated that he would like to speak with Mueller about the ongoing investigation, which is examining his campaign’s possible collusion with Russia over election interference, and possible obstruction of justice.

“I’m looking forward to it, actually,” Trump told reporters at the White House last month, though adding: “subject to my lawyers and all of that.”

The president said he would even testify under oath.

While Mueller’s questioning would not be under oath, it is a crime to lie to federal investigators.

The New York Times cited four people briefed on the matter as saying the president’s lawyers are concerned that he could be charged with lying to investigators, as he has previously made false statements and contradicted himself.

The sources said lawyer John Dowd, his deputy Jay Sekulow, longtime personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz and many West Wing advisers want to resist the interview request, claiming Mueller lacks the legal standing on some of the issues he is investigating.

However, a refusal could lead Mueller to issue a subpoena for the president to testify before a grand jury, with a court fight that would be decided by the US Supreme Court.

It could also trigger accusations that Trump is hiding information from the public, a painful distraction for Republicans seeking office in November’s mid-term elections.

The Times said Dowd has been discussing the issue of a potential interview with Mueller’s office since December, adding that White House lawyer Ty Cobb is one of the few Trump aides arguing for cooperating.

Meanwhile, a memo written by Democrats on the House intelligence committee as part of its investigation of Russian election interference was under review on Tuesday at the White House, where President Donald Trump will decide whether to allow the public to read it.

Trump last week declassified a document written by the committee’s Republican majority that criticized methods the FBI used to obtain a surveillance warrant on a onetime Trump campaign associate. Trump said the GOP memo showed the FBI and Justice Department conspired against him in the Russia probe.

The Democratic memo, intended as a counter to the GOP document, has deepened a partisan divide on the committee, which is supposed to be jointly investigating Russian meddling and possible connections between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign.

Separate investigations are underway by special counsel Robert Mueller and the Senate intelligence committee.

On Monday the House panel voted unanimously to release the Democratic memo, sending it to the White House for a legal and national security review.

“The White House has received a memorandum from the minority members of the House Select Permanent Committee on Intelligence,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said after the House intelligence committee’s vote.

She said the Trump administration “will follow the same process and procedure” it did with the Republican document, meaning Trump has five days to decide whether to allow the Democratic memo’s publication.

Trump declared over the weekend that the GOP memo “totally vindicates” him.

Agencies