INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized the leak of more than 40 questions that Special Counsel
Robert Mueller wants to ask him as part of a probe into Russia's alleged election meddling and possible collusion by the Trump campaign.As
negotiations continue over whether Trump will sit for an interview, the New York Times obtained a lengthy list of questions Mueller and his
team have prepared for the president."So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were 'leaked' to the media
No questions on Collusion," Trump wrote on Twitter
"It would seem very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened!"Mueller's investigators read the questions to Trump's
lawyers who compiled them into a list, the New York Times reported on Monday
The newspaper said it obtained the document from a person outside Trump's legal team.Trump's lawyers met with Mueller last week to
discuss a possible interview with the president, according to the Wall Street Journal, which also reported on the potential
queries.Representatives for the Mueller's office declined to comment and Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for Trump, also had no comment
Reuters could not confirm the published accounts.Representatives for Robert Mueller's office declined to comment on the leakThe list of at
least four dozen questions includes ones on Trump's ties to Russia and others to determine whether the president may have unlawfully tried
to obstruct the investigation, the Times reported.Savannah Law School professor Andrew Wright, who served in President Barack Obama's
White House, said it was difficult to know who would have leaked the questions and why."It's hard for me to imagine it's coming from
And it's kind of a ham-handed effort if it's someone who's trying to help the president," he said.Russia has denied interfering in the
2016 United States presidential election, as United States intelligence agencies allege, and Trump has denied there was any collusion
between his campaign and Moscow.Most of the questions relate to possible obstruction of justice, the reports said.While the questions do not
explicitly cite "collusion," they do address what the president knew about hacking by Russia, its use of social media and "other acts aimed
at the campaign," the Times said.Manafort targets possible leaks"What knowledge did you have of any outreach by your campaign, including by
Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential assistance to the campaign," one question asked, referring to Trump's former campaign manager,
according to the Times.Manafort faces charges in two federal courts that include conspiracy to launder money, failure to register as a
foreign agent when he lobbied for the pro-Russia Ukraine government, bank fraud and tax fraud.Late on Monday, Manafort's lawyers asked a
federal judge in Virginia to hear arguments later this month on whether prosecutors in Mueller's office may have leaked classified and
other secret materials about the case to the media.On Friday, Manafort's lawyers will ask the judge to dismiss the indictment in that
court on the grounds that the scope of Mueller's probe is excessive.Mueller's list also included inquiries about Trump's firing of
former FBI Director James Comey, who headed the Russia investigation before he was dismissed in May 2017, and the resignation of former
national security adviser Michael Flynn, the Times reported.Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during his interview as part of
