Because **Clothahump **might read it.
Although that’s not really saying much. Trump can’t answer a question about what he had bor breakfast without lying.
Once he gets into one of his typical streams of blather, there’s no telling what he’ll cop to. And it will be under oath.
I’m pretty skeptical that these were offered to Dowd as questions rather than question topics. No lawyer would go into an important interview with these questions. These would be headings for the actual questions, which would be more detailed.
I’m thinking that Mueller not only knows the answer to his questions, he has rock-solid proof. Otherwise, he would either keep looking until he does, or drop the issue entirely. Its what they call a target rich environment.
He’s not opening a debate, its showing Trump’s team what he’s got. Its also showing the whether Mueller is fired or not won’t make a difference. he’s done the work. Its first and goal on the one-inch line, bring in another quarterback and it probably won’t change much.
I heard a guy on NPR this morning (sorry, I forget who; maybe a former federal prosecutor from Illinois) claim that the list of questions must have been leaked from the Trump side, but he offered nothing to back that claim up, and the interviewer didn’t press him. And I just saw some guy on Twitter claim the same thing, and add, again without evidence, that the list of questions does not exist “in that form” in Mueller’s office. What’s your read? Do you have the sense that the “49 Questions” were produced by one of Trump’s lawyers and presumably leaked by someone in his circle?
I’m convinced that Trump’s people leaked it.
Evidence includes:
[ul]
[li]The NYT said the questions were offered verbally, a sign that Mueller at least didn’t want them shared.[/li][li]Some of the questions have grammatical errors.[/li][li]Trump’s people have more to gain by leaking them (they might dissuade him from agreeing to interview or at least motivate him to properly prepare, and provide fodder for Hannity and other lackeys to attack the investigation).[/li][li]As I posted above, they aren’t really questions but instead topics and I doubt Mueller’s people would have characterized them that way if they leaked; and[/li][li]Mueller’s office hasn’t demonstrably leaked anything, while Trump’s people have leaked a ton.[/li][/ul]
If so, is such a leak illegal? And if it is, could Mueller and his team prove it in court, and would they try?
I don’t see how Mueller’s team would gain anything by leaking. By the same token, don’t see what Trump’s team gains either. It is a puzzlement.
However, if Trump’s team thought they had this nailed down, that they could solidly prove that each and every one of those “subjects” could be answered to Trump’s total exoneration…they would go “public” with that, big league and downtown. They would hire skywriters.
And Trump? That would be a 24-hour tweet-a-palooza, he would need to graft on prosthetic thumbs!
I don’t see anything that would make it illegal.
It will perhaps make Mueller’s team less likely to cooperate with the White House.
Thanks. As you point out, the leak gives the Trump side, including Trump himself, one more ginned up reason to attack the investigation. I also wonder if Trump agrees to an interview, and the questions diverge from this list, the Trump side will claim that the interview was “unfair”, or Mueller was dishonest, or it was a “perjury trap”. They’d probably claim that anyway, but now they can point to this list as “proof” that Mueller is unfair. ETA: and of course Fox News will run with that story for days.
My impression is that much of the leaking which goes on is not about anything more than the leaker effectively bartering with the media person, offering hot info in exchange for favorable coverage for themselves personally. Not a quid pro quo, but the media person is possibly grateful to the source, and is at any rate not looking to burn a potential source of future scoops.
I don’t see why it would be illegal. I guess Mueller could have required them to sign some kind of confidentiality agreement or something and then could complain that breaking the agreement interferes with his investigation. But I doubt he did that.
The leak couldn’t have come from Trump or any of his people. For one thing, we know he hates leaks. I don’t think Trump even has the questions. He leveled criticism at Hillary Clinton for receiving the questions in advance of one of their debates. If Mueller’s questions were offered to Trump, I’m sure he’d refuse them on principle.
That’s not what the Russian ladies say.
Hey-yo!
Sorry, that’s been done a mere few posts back (#4310)
From the headline, I thought he was referring to the Mueller questions. But no, it’s just more “Freedom Caucus” foolishness.
I heard on the radio this morning - I think it was Morning Joe (Sirius XM) - the interesting thought that Mueller doesn’t leak. Trump’s law-talking people haven’t leaked.
Until very recently. And now it’s happened a couple times.
Hmm… who has Trump added to his legal team in recent weeks. Rony Giuliano? Something like that…