President Trump has completed written answers to questions from special counsel Robert Mueller, he said Tuesday, and they were submitted to the special counsel’s office.
“The written answers to the witch hunt that’s been going on forever — no collusion, no nothing — they’ve been finished, finished them yesterday,” the president told reporters before leaving the White House for Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving. “The lawyers have them.”
Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s lawyers, said Trump’s written answers were submitted to Mueller.
“The questions presented dealt with issues regarding the Russia-related topics of the inquiry,” Sekulow said in a statement. “The president responded in writing.”
Rudy Giuliani, another member of Trump’s legal team, called for Mueller to wrap up his investigation.
“It has been our position from the outset that much of what has been asked raised serious constitutional issues and was beyond the scope of a legitimate inquiry. This remains our position today,” he said in a statement. “The President has nonetheless provided unprecedented cooperation. The Special Counsel has been provided with more than 30 witnesses, 1.4 million pages of material, and now the President’s written responses to questions. It is time to bring this inquiry to a conclusion.”
[Read more: Alan Dershowitz predicts: Mueller investigation wraps by Christmas]
Mueller has been investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election for more than a year, an investigation that has yielded guilty pleas from four former Trump associates and led to the indictment of roughly two dozen Russian nationals.
Trump frequently criticizes the special counsel’s investigation, calling it a “witch hunt” run by a group of “angry Democrats.”
The questions from the special counsel cover issues related to related to possible collusion between Trump campaign members and Russians during the presidential campaign and do not address an inquiry into potential obstruction of justice by the president.
Completion of the questions marks a significant development in Mueller’s investigation, as Trump’s legal team engaged in lengthy negotiations with the special counsel’s office over whether a sit-down interview would occur.
Trump indicated in a recent interview with Fox News that he would not answer any further questions, saying “we’ve wasted enough time on this witch hunt.”
Kelly Cohen contributed to this report.
