WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, said he believes special counsel Robert Mueller eventually will have to depose President Donald Trump in his Russia investigation.
“I think that’s ultimately what will happen,” the Rhode Island Democrat told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “It involves to some degree the President, so I would expect at some point, not right away, but at some point, Mr. Mueller will feel he has to depose the President.”
The Justice Department named Mueller as special counsel to oversee the department’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Reed argued that former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Trump last month, made a strong impression in his hearing Thursday with the Senate intelligence committee.
“I think Director Comey made a strong impression,” he said. “As you noted, he did so under oath. The President, I think, if he’s willing to insist upon his position, that should also be made under oath.”
Trump said later Friday he was willing to testify under oath about his conversations with Comey.
“100%,” the President said when asked about his willingness to deliver sworn testimony during a Rose Garden news conference.
Comey’s testimony about Trump was damaging. The former FBI director said Trump’s private comments urging him to drop the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn led him to tell his Justice Department colleagues they needed to be careful.
And he said multiple times that he chose to take detailed notes about his interactions with Trump because he worried the White House and President would lie about them if he didn’t.
“I think, frankly, the burden is now on the President to come forth definitively and say what happened,” Reed told CNN.
