Trump interview 'could bring end to Mueller probe'

Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for US President Donald Trump, has put a date on the end of the Russia probe. Photo / AP file

The US President's lawyer says Special Counsel Robert Mueller could conclude his probe by September if Donald Trump agrees to an interview.

Rudy Giuliani told AP that Mueller recently shared a timetable that suggested that its probe could end by September 1 if Trump were to sit for an interview in July, which is the legal team's new working plan.

Giuliani said he fears that if the probe ran longer than that, it could damage Republicans fortunes in the Midterm elections in November.

Giuliani also said that Mueller's team indicated that the entire probe could end by September, not just the investigation into potential obstruction of justice.

The former New York Mayor says that "would be the culmination of the investigation into the President."

The Justice Department has asked its inspector general to determine whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with Russian agents who interfered in the presidential election.

A department statement came after Trump tweeted that he would "demand" that the DOJ open an investigation into whether the FBI infiltrated his presidential campaign for political purposes. The president said he also wanted investigated whether any demands or requests for such action originated with the Obama Administration.

Trump tweeted: "I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!"

Trump has been promoting a theory circulating in conservative circles about a possible FBI spy on the campaign, though his lawyer has cast doubt on it.

Giuliani said in a television interview last week that neither he nor Trump knows for certain if there was a spy on the campaign. Giuliani said they had been told of "some kind of infiltration."

In any event, the Justice Department's internal watchdog is already examining Republican complaints of FBI misconduct in the early stages of the Russia investigation.

- AP

Fun to remember that when Giuliani came on board he said the investigation would be over in a week or two. https://t.co/JnMXzfcB43

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 20, 2018

President’s lawyer seeks information about person said to have been used by U.S. investigators https://t.co/gqbIo03ZJ1

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 20, 2018