Mock Trump/Mueller Interview Devolves Into Ridiculous Chaos After Mega Trump Fumble

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Through various Trump legal team shakeups and endless angry public pronouncements from the president, the Russia probe led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is continuing. Mueller’s team has so far brought charges against four former Trump associates, and reports have swirled of his team questioning an array of interests from Russian billionaires to longtime Trump friend Tom Barrack.

One individual who has not yet sat down with the special counsel’s team is the president himself, who has, to be sure, expressed a willingness to be interviewed. Even still, he has not yet done so in part thanks to counsel from his lawyers.

His lawyers must be on the right track considering a new report from The Wall Street Journal. According to the publication, in a mock Mueller interview the president participated in as a form of preparation for a potential sit down with the special counsel’s team, it took Trump four hours to get through two questions. For perspective, a recently circulated list of sample questions for a sit down between the special counsel’s team and the president included dozens of questions.

The president sought to downplay the significance of those leaked questions, even claiming them to not cover collusion, when it’s not exactly hidden that they do. Although, again, they are by all appearances sample questions drawn up by the president’s team and not an exact blueprint for a special counsel interview of the president, the questions covered such topics as whether or not Trump knows anything about efforts about his former campaign manager Paul Manafort to reach out to Russia.

Considering the president’s public inability to hang onto reality in this situation, it’s hardly surprising that it took him four hours to get through just two questions in a mock Mueller interview set up by his legal team.

The publication reported:

‘In an informal, four-hour practice session, Mr. Trump’s lawyers were only able to walk him through two questions, given the frequent interruptions on national-security matters along with Mr. Trump’s loquaciousness, one person familiar with the matter said.’

Dictionary.com defines loquaciousness as the trait of “talking or tending to talk much or freely,” and that adjective certainly describes the president. His speaking style has frequently been scrutinized, seeing as he does things like turn what are supposed to be tax reform discussions into rants about immigration and nonexistent voter fraud. Now, though, his “speaking style” is posing a potential problem for him going into a sit down with the special counsel’s team.

A CNN panel mocked the president over the reported lengthy period of time that it took for him to get walked through just two questions.  CNN contributor John Avlon quipped:

‘He is totally loquacious. He is not focused. Could two questions that are kind of contentious derail him for long periods of time? Sure.’

According to the same report from The Wall Street Journal cited above, the president’s legal team has decided on a deadline of May 17 for coming to an agreement over a presidential sit down with the special counsel. The special counsel is reportedly open to the idea of issuing a subpoena to compel the president to testify; the Trump team’s request to have the president just return written answers to the special counsel’s questions has already been denied, so the president is running out of options.

What help the president’s newest attentions to his legal team will actually be able to provide him in his struggle with Mueller remains to be seen.

Featured Image via NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images