For months now Rudy Giuliani has cited a number of reasons to explain why he’s reluctant to have his client sit for an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. But none of those reasons adequately defends such a decision, particularly the notion that a voluntary interview is somehow a “perjury trap.”
As far as back as May, Giuliani was warning about Mueller’s intentions in questioning the president. “What they’re really trying to do is trap him into perjury, and we’re not suckers,” Giuliani told Fox News. The President himself raised the same concern about a “perjury trap” again Monday. And Sunday the former New York mayor told
Meet the Press, “I am not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury. And when you tell me that, you know, he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth and he shouldn’t worry, well that’s so silly because it’s somebody’s version of the truth. Not the truth.” Shortly after this statement the former federal prosecutor told host Chuck Todd, “Truth isn’t truth.”
Philosophers have debated the nature of truth for millennia, but “perjury trap” is a precise legal term — and one that Giuliani is cavalierly tossing around in an effort to undermine the credibility of Mueller’s probe.
Needless to say, Mueller’s request to interview Trump does not amount to anything close to a “perjury trap.” Any federal prosecutor would conclude not only that Mueller’s investigation is legitimate — notwithstanding Trump’s cries of a “rigged witch hunt” — but that the president is a relevant witness in both the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and the investigation into obstructing the Russia probe.
Even if Giuliani may not recognize it, to prosecutors investigating criminal conduct and to a jury’s determination of guilt or innocence, the truth is the truth. His effort to mislead the public further underscores the importance of Trump submitting to a voluntary interview with the special counsel, as is required by every single other federal official. Trump must be subject to the rigor of answering questions, under the penalty of prosecution for lying, to ensure his best recollection is documented by the special counsel. If Trump wishes to assert his Fifth Amendment right not to testify, he may do so and endure the resulting political consequences. If Trump chooses not to do either, the only conclusion we should draw is that he has something to hide. No other explanation makes sense.