Trump is on the warpath against Mueller's questioning - but he might not be able to take the heat
- President Donald Trump was reportedly threatened with a grand-jury subpoena if he refuses to sit down with prosecutors in the Russia probe.
- People close to Trump say he's angry about it, and spoiling for a fight.
- "For the average human, nothing scares them more than legal issues," a source close to Trump said to Axios."He. Does. Not. Care. His whole adult life has been spent in litigation. He's not afraid of high-stakes legal stuff. … He's just going to start swinging and knock people's heads off."
- But a legal expert said he didn't see Trump as being able to take the intense questioning Mueller would put him through.
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his contempt for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into his campaign - and people close to him now say he's on a warpath.
Mueller threatened Trump's legal team with a grand-jury subpoena in March if Trump refuses to voluntarily sit down with prosecutors conducting the investigation into potential collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice, and experts don't think it will go well for the president.
Trump's "instinct is always to be on the offensive," a source told the news website Axios.
"This was a wake-up call to the president that will embolden him, in a lot of ways. As he sees this becoming more serious, his instinct is to punch back 10 times harder."
The White House has suggested that Trump believes he has the power to dismiss Mueller. But critics have said that such a move could lead to what they have termed a "constitutional crisis".
Instead of firing Mueller, Trump has taken to Twitter repeatedly to bash the investigation as a "witch hunt", and cast the spotlight on his political opponents.
A second source, described as being very close to Trump, told Axios: "For the average human, nothing scares them more than legal issues. He. Does. Not. Care. His whole adult life has been spent in litigation. He's not afraid of high-stakes legal stuff. … He's just going to start swinging and knock people's heads off."
On Tuesday Trump attacked media reporting on questions Mueller would allegedly like to ask Trump in a hypothetical interview and bizarrely claimed the questions didn't address collusion, even though 13 of them did.
Compounding the issue of Trump's anger and propensity to make counter-accusations is the fact that Mueller's questions leave little room to hide, and any misleading or untruthful statements could end up getting prosecuted.
"I do not see him sustaining the hours of questioning he would face. And to some questions - such as his role in the Trump Tower matter and the fake press release he directed for Don Jr. - he seems unlikely to have good answers," Bob Bauer, a former White House counsel under President Clinton told Axios.