Mueller wouldn't subpoena Trump because they knew he wouldn't cooperate: report
Composite image of Donald Trump during CNN debate (Photo: Screen captures)

According to a Sunday CNN report, special counsel Robert Mueller refused to fight President Donald Trump on speaking to them in person because he likely wouldn't cooperate.


In wake of Attorney General Bill Barr's four-page digest of the Mueller report, he drew conclusions that weren't accurate from what Mueller did.

"We learned that the special counsel, his team and DOJ officials, top officials raised the specter of issuing a subpoena for President Trump for an interview and ultimately the decision was made not to move forward with such a significant investigative step of issuing a subpoena against a sitting president," said CNN reporter Pamela Brown.

Mueller sent questions to Trump, which he answered with the help of his attorneys. Political commentators mocked it as a "take-home test," and said that it wouldn't provide any real answers.

"We know for months, that Robert Mueller and his team have been asking for a sit-down interview with President Trump and the legal team said no," Brown said. "They gambled that Robert Mueller would not issue a subpoena. Sure enough, that happened. We heard there are sensitive discussions about whether they should issue a subpoena when it became clear that the president's legal team would not allow a sit-down interview with the president."

She said that they ultimately decided that the "merits and evidence" didn't justify the fight with Trump and his legal team.

"But certainly, it makes you question, as you read Bill Barr's memo today, whether Robert Mueller said in his report to Barr that some of the president's behavior he could not be exonerated from because he did not get that sitdown interview to talk to him and understand his intent," Brown continued.

Read the full report at CNN.com.

Watch Brown's report below: