Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's legal team has been told in recent weeks that special counsel Robert Mueller does not consider Trump a target in his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, but he's more than a witness, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

The issue came up in discussions last month as Trump and Mueller's teams were negotiating over potential testimony . One source said it was a routine discussion to have, and it was then that Trump's lawyers were told that the President cannot be a witness because he was involved in some of the matters under investigation. But he is also not a criminal target at this point.

In practical terms, Trump's attorneys believe he is unlikely to be considered a target because Justice Department guidelines do not allow for a sitting president to be charged with a crime.

One of the sources explained that Mueller's team never specified that the President was a subject. But given that he is not a witness and not a target, that is the understanding by the team.

They believe Mueller would only go after the President if there is something momentous or indisputable evidence, one of the sources said. Trump and his team continue to believe there is no "there there" when it comes to the President's actions.

Read More</s>(Reuters) - Robert Mueller, the U.S. Justice Department’s special counsel, is specifically authorized to investigate allegations that Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, colluded with Russia to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, a court filing showed late on Monday.

They court documents also show that Mueller is specifically authorized to investigate Manafort’s ties to Ukraine’s former pro-Russia government.

The documents were filed in response to a motion by Manafort challenging Mueller’s authority to prosecute him.

Manafort does not currently face charges related to the 2016 presidential election or Russian interference. But he is charged with bank fraud, filing false tax returns, conspiring against the United States by plotting to launder money and failing to register as a foreign agent when he lobbied for the former Ukraine government.

His court action sought to have those charges dismissed, arguing that Mueller lacked the authority to investigate his dealings with Ukraine.

No one on either side of the case was available for comment early Tuesday.

Trump has frequently declared no collusion occurred between his campaign and Russia.</s>'Town & Country' reports that the two go months without talking, and things are 'awkward.'

Tiffany Trump is often mentioned on late-night talk shows as the outcast Trump, but now sources closer to Donald and Tiffany Trump are calling their relationship strained and awkward. Tiffany Trump was the only adult child of Donald Trump not on the Trump transition team, and though she attends school in Washington, D.C., at Georgetown Law School, Tiffany Trump is rarely seen in the company of Donald and Melania Trump at the White House or down in Florida at Mar-a-Lago.

Tiffany Trump Says She Feels “Awkward” Around Donald Trump

Friends of Tiffany Trump have commented that her relationship with Donald Trump is not as close as his relationship with Ivanka Trump, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, or even his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, reports Town & Country. Much was made of photos taken of Donald and Tiffany Trump over the Easter holiday, but even then, Tiffany Trump seems to be keeping her distance from Donald Trump.

And friends of Tiffany Trump say that her half-siblings and stepmother Melania Trump also make her feel like an outsider and not a member of the Trump inner circle.

Tiffany Trump is the only child of Donald Trump and Marla Maples from a relationship that had a rocky start and a brief tenure. The connection between Tiffany Trump and her older half-siblings is said to be friendly now, but that wasn’t always the case. A tape has surfaced of a 2005 Howard Stern Show interview that had Donald Trump saying that Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. would be happy to push Tiffany Trump out of the picture, as she was cutting into their inheritance, reports T&C.

Donald Trump Said Ivanka And Donald Jr. Wanted To “Bump Off” Tiffany Trump

Donald Trump told Stern a third person story about older children concerned that with each new child, there is 20 percent less money to go around.

Howard Stern then asked Donald Trump if Ivanka and Don Jr. were trying to “bump off a child.”

Stern asked if there was any truth to that rumor, and Donald Trump said yes.

On a phone call after the election to Fox & Friends, Donald Trump awkwardly compared his children.

“I’m very proud of my children. I mean, I’m just looking at them right now as an example… but I’m very proud ’cause Don and Eric and Ivanka and, you know, to a lesser extent ’cause she just got out of school, out of college, but, uh, Tiffany, who’s also been so terrific. I mean, they work so hard.”

Tiffany Trump Has Been Seen Supporting Gun Control On Social Media

Tiffany Trump has also been seen on social media supporting #MarchForOurLives and gun control, particularly the posts of brother-in-law Jared Kushner’s brother Joshua Kushner, and his girlfriend, model Karlie Kloss, who turned out for the march in D.C. and made a sizeable financial donation to the cause.

Tiffany Trump reportedly calls herself a feminist and “liked” an album on Instagram that suggests that the midterm election would be bad for the Republican party.</s>These are the top five Nigerian stories that conversation today.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday insisted that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been a failure.

He spoke at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State, while playing host to the New Nigeria 2019 Group, led by the convener, Chima Anyaso, in company with Moses Siasia.

“As I said, stop giving excuses; we met challenges. If there are no challenges, then we wouldn’t need you to come. You come in because you know there are challenges and then giving us an excuse that you have many challenges; that is why you haven’t achieved results.”

The police have arrested six persons for allegedly aiding the escape of six suspects from police custody in Division ‘A’ Lokoja, Kogi State, last week Wednesday.

They include John Beneche, 22, Seye Atowoju, 27, Danjuma Yunusa, 35, Egga Ochai, 50, Abbas Haruna, 30, and Gloria Audu, 28, sister to Emmanuel, one of the re-arrested prime suspects in Senator Dino Melaye’s arms case.

The force in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja by its spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, explained that the six suspects played criminal roles in the escape of Kabiru Seidu (aka Osama), Nuhu Salisu (aka Small), Aliyu Isa, Adams Suleiman, Emmanuel Audu and Musa Mohammed.

Some gunmen on Tuesday invaded the police station at Gegu village on Lokoja–Abuja road, killing two of the policemen on duty.

William Aya, spokesman of the Kogi state police command confirmed this.

“It is true that there was an attack today. We lost two officers,” he said.

He said the gunmen also injured one of the suspects in the cell.

Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi state, walked into the presidential villa in Abuja on Tuesday on crutches.

The governor was involved in an accident during the Easter holiday.

Kingsley Fanwo, spokesman of the governor, had earlier issued a statement to deny that his principal’s condition was critical.

“We wish to refute speculations in some quarters that the Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, is either hospitalised or otherwise incapacitated,” the statement read.

Festus Keyamo, Lagos lawyer, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of committing same act he is tackling President Muhammadu Buhari for.

He said Obasanjo “kept blaming” the military for his “abysmal” performance while in office.

Writing via his Twitter handle on Tuesday, Keyamo said — just like Buhari — the former president had asked Nigerians to be patient with his government.

He wrote: “Let’s remember that during the first four years of Obasanjo (1999-2003), he kept blaming the ‘rot’ the military left behind as the reason for his abysmal performance and begged Nigerians to be patient with him, to the extent that he reportedly knelt down for Atiku Abubakar (his then vice-president) then to get his second-term ticket.”

And now, stories from around the world…

The Duke of Edinburgh has been admitted to hospital in central London for planned surgery on his hip, Buckingham Palace has said.

The surgery will take place on Wednesday at the King Edward VII Hospital in Marylebone.

The duke did not attend the Easter service at Windsor Castle on Sunday, with his absence said to have been because of a hip problem.

France’s rail network has been severely disrupted, as a wave of strikes against President Emmanuel Macron’s labour reforms gets under way.

The start of the strike has been dubbed “Black Tuesday”, but the action will spread over three months, affecting two days in every five.

Staff at state railway SNCF are leading the strike, but the energy and waste collection sectors are also affected.

The unrest presents Mr Macron’s biggest challenge since his election last May.

The first person has been jailed as part of the FBI inquiry into alleged collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign team and Russia.

Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, 33, was sentenced to 30 days in prison for lying to investigators about contacts with ex-Trump aide Rick Gates.

Van der Zwaan is the son-in-law of one of Russia’s richest men and was the 19th person to be charged by special counsel Robert Mueller.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s calling on the military to guard the US-Mexico border until his long-promised border wall is complete.

“I told Mexico, and I respect what they did, I said, look, your laws are very powerful, your laws are very strong. We have very bad laws for our border and we are going to be doing some things, I spoke with (Defense Secretary James) Mattis, we’re going to do some things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military. That’s a big step,” he said during a luncheon with leaders of the Baltic states.

He continued: “We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and by the way never showing up for court.”

China says it will respond to any new trade tariffs by the United States with measures of the same scale and intensity.

The warning from China’s ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, came after Beijing slapped tariffs on $3 billion worth of US exports including fruit, pork and steel pipes.

Those measures were in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum from China and other countries. But Trump has also announced plans to impose tariffs on about $50 billion worth of Chinese goods.</s>Special counsel Robert Mueller has told President Donald Trump's lawyers that the President is not currently being considered a criminal target of the Russia probe, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the discussions.

The special counsel's team is compiling a report on Trump's actions as President and any potential obstruction of justice -- which Mueller has also told Trump's lawyers, two people with knowledge of the conversations told the Post.

The report notes that Mueller continues to seek an interview with Trump himself. CNN reported Friday that attorneys for both sides sat down for an in-person meeting on topics that investigators could ask the President about, according to two sources familiar with the talks.

CNN reported in January that Mueller's team had given the President's lawyers general topics for an interview, such as Trump's request that then-FBI director James Comey drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, his reaction to Comey's May 2017 testimony on Capitol Hill and Trump's contact with intelligence officials about the Russia investigation.

Mueller's team is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and has been looking into any potential ties between Russia and Trump campaign associates. Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion.</s>WASHINGTON – Special Counsel Robert Mueller III informed President Donald Trump’s attorneys last month that he is continuing to investigate the president but does not consider him a criminal target at this point, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

In private negotiations in early March about a possible presidential interview, Mueller described Trump as a subject of his investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Prosecutors view someone as a subject when that person has engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges.

The special counsel also told Trump’s lawyers that he is preparing a report about the president’s actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice, according to two people with knowledge of the conversations.

Mueller reiterated the need to interview Trump – both to understand whether he had any corrupt intent to thwart the Russia investigation and to complete this portion of his probe, the people said.

Mueller’s description of the president’s status has sparked friction within Trump’s inner circle as his advisers have debated his legal standing. The president and some of his allies seized on the special counsel’s words as an assurance that Trump’s risk of criminal jeopardy is low. Other advisers, however, noted that subjects of investigations can easily become indicted targets – and expressed concern that the special prosecutor was baiting Trump into an interview that could put the president in greater legal peril.

John Dowd, Trump’s top attorney dealing with the Mueller probe, resigned last month amid disputes about strategy and frustration that the president ignored his advice to refuse the special counsel’s request for an interview, according to a Trump friend.

Trump’s chief counsel, Jay Sekulow, and Dowd declined to comment for this report. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred questions to White House attorney Ty Cobb.

“Thank you, but I don’t discuss communications with the president or with the Office of Special Counsel,” Cobb said Tuesday.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, declined to comment.

The wide-ranging special counsel investigation, which began as an examination of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, has expanded into other areas, including whether Trump sought to obstruct the Russian probe.

Mueller’s investigators have indicated to the president’s legal team that they are considering writing reports on their findings in stages – with the first report focused on the obstruction issue, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

Under special counsel regulations, Mueller is required to report his conclusions confidentially to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has the authority to decide whether to release the information publicly.

“They’ve said they want to write a report on this – to answer the public’s questions – and they need the president’s interview as the last step,” one person familiar with the discussions said of Mueller’s team.

Trump’s attorneys expect the president would also face questions about what he knew about any contacts by his associates with Russians officials and emissaries in 2016, several White House advisers said. The president’s allies believe a second report detailing the special counsel’s findings on Russia’s interference would be issued later.

The president has privately expressed relief at the description of his legal status, which has increased his determination to agree to a special counsel interview, the people said. He has repeatedly told allies that he is not a target of the probe and believes an interview will help him put the matter behind him, friends said.

However, legal experts said Mueller’s description of Trump as a subject of a grand jury probe does not mean he is in the clear.

Under Justice Department guidelines, a subject of an investigation is a person whose conduct falls within the scope of a grand jury’s investigation. A target is a person for which there is substantial evidence linking him or her to a crime.

A subject could become a target with his or her own testimony, legal experts warn.

“If I were the president, I would be very reluctant to think I’m off the hook,” said Keith Whittington, a professor of politics at Princeton University and impeachment expert.

“My sense of it is the president – given that information – ought to have pretty fair warning anything he’s saying in the deposition would be legally consequential. Depending on what he says, it could wind up changing how the special counsel is thinking about him.”

Still, several legal scholars and impeachment experts believe Mueller may conclude he does not have the authority to charge a sitting president with a crime under an opinion written by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel in 1973 and reaffirmed in 2000.

If Mueller finds Trump engaged in criminal conduct, he could detail it in a report, experts argue, and let Congress to decide whether to launch impeachment proceedings based on Mueller’s findings.

“The president’s personal risk is primarily on the impeachment front,” Whittington said. “Even if there are not things that lead to indictment, there may be matters that warrant an impeachment investigation and proceedings.”

Some of Trump’s advisers have warned White House aides that they fear Mueller could issue a blistering report about the president’s actions.

Several of Trump’s public actions have called into question whether he sought to blunt or block the criminal probe, a line of inquiry that prosecutors began pursuing last year. He has repeatedly called the investigation a “witch hunt” that has unfairly sullied his administration and hampered his ability to accomplish his policy agenda. He fired FBI Director James Comey in May after Comey told Congress that the bureau was investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Trump was furious that Comey did not state that he was not personally under investigation, The Washington Post previously reported.

The president also asked top intelligence officials to issue public statements denying the existence of any evidence of coordination between his campaign and the Russian government.

Mueller’s team has told Trump’s attorneys over recent months that they are seeking to learn more about the firings of Comey and national security adviser Michael Flynn last year and the president’s efforts to get Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign.

Nevertheless, Trump has repeatedly expressed an eagerness to sit down for a voluntary interview to answer Mueller’s questions – a move Dowd believed would be a mistake, according to a longtime Trump friend.

Dowd told the president the case against him was weak, but warned Trump he could create criminal jeopardy for himself if he agreed to an interview and misspoke under oath, the friend said. Dowd repeatedly pointed to the Trump campaign advisers who have pleaded guilty to making false statements in the Mueller probe – including Flynn, adviser George Papadopoulos and former campaign official Rick Gates.

“Mueller hasn’t hesitated to [charge] people for lying on some pretty tangential stuff,” said Solomon Wisenberg, a former deputy independent counsel in the probe of President Bill Clinton.

However, Sekulow and Cobb gave the president the opposite advice as Dowd: that it would be politically difficult for Trump to refuse to answer questions after insisting for months there was no collusion or crime, according to three people familiar with their advice.

Wisenberg, who interviewed Clinton about allegations that he obstructed justice, said Trump has handled himself well in previous depositions but should be cautious.

“I think he would do much better than people think,” Wisenberg said. “But there are plenty of instances where a guy walks into a grand jury a subject. He gets out and is told: ‘Guess what, you’re a target now.’ “

Ashley Parker, Philip Rucker and Julie Tate contributed to this report.</s>Special counsel Robert Mueller has informed Donald Trump's lawyers that the president is not currently considered a criminal target in the Russia investigation.

A source said Mr Trump is considered a subject of Mueller's probe, not a target.

A subject is typically someone whose conduct is of interest to investigators but there is not enough evidence to bring charges. The designation could change at any time.

The development was first reported by The Washington Post.

The source said Mr Mueller told Mr Trump's lawyers about his designation as prosecutors and the president's legal team negotiate the terms of an interview with him.</s>WASHINGTON — Special Counsel Robert Mueller told President Donald Trump's attorneys last month he was continuing to investigate the president but did not consider him a criminal target in the Russia probe "at this point," the Washington Post reported on Tuesday night.

The Post said Mueller also told Trump's lawyers that he was preparing a report about the president's actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice.

"Mueller reiterated the need to interview Trump — both to understand whether he had any corrupt intent to thwart the Russia investigation and to complete this portion of his probe," the newspaper said.</s>Special counsel Robert Mueller notified President Trump's lawyers last month that the president is being investigated as part of the Russia probe, but a source familiar with the situation says they were told Trump was not a criminal target at that time.

The source declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, but did confirm the details first reported by the Washington Post.

There have been ongoing discussions between Trump's lawyers and Mueller's team about the president sitting for an interview as part of the investigation. Trump has said he wants to speak with Mueller. Asked on March 22 whether he still wanted to testify before special counsel Robert Mueller, Trump said "Yes. I would like to."

John Dowd, the lawyer who had been leading Trump's legal team until he resigned late last month, reportedly was at odds with the president and others on the legal team about whether it was a good idea for Trump to sit for an interview with Mueller. Dowd was against it.

Asked about the Post story, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said: "We do not discuss real or alleged conversations between our legal team and the Office of Special Counsel." Ty Cobb, the lawyer in the White House handling the Mueller probe, declined to comment.

The Washington Post story also says Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is preparing a report about the president's actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice, and that he needed to interview Trump to complete that phase of his investigation. NPR has not confirmed this part of the story. The Washington Post report adds:



The president has privately expressed relief at the description of his legal status, which has increased his determination to agree to a special counsel interview, the people said. He has repeatedly told allies that he is not a target of the probe and believes an interview will help him put the matter behind him, friends said. However, legal experts said Mueller's description of Trump as a subject of a grand jury probe does not mean he is in the clear. Under Justice Department guidelines, a subject of an investigation is a person whose conduct falls within the scope of a grand jury's investigation. A target is a person for which there is substantial evidence linking him or her to a crime.



There also remains a raging legal question about whether a sitting president can be indicted for a crime. As NPR's Carrie Johnson reported last year, it is a debate as old as the country itself:



Most constitutional lawyers agree a president can be investigated. But the consensus breaks down when it comes to what happens next. "The president cannot be indicted, prosecuted and tried while serving in office," Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz told Fox News last month. Dershowitz pointed out the Justice Department has twice concluded that indicting a sitting president would undermine the executive branch and its duties under the Constitution. "The only mechanism the Constitution provides is he could be impeached and once impeached and removed from office he could then be charged with a criminal trial," Dershowitz said.</s>Special counsel Robert Mueller's team of prosecutors has informed President Donald Trump's attorneys that the president is not currently considered a criminal target in the Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the conversation.The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the president is considered a subject of Mueller's probe - not a target. A subject is typically someone whose conduct is of interest to investigators but prosecutors are not certain they've gathered enough evidence to bring charges.The designation could change at any time, though. The development was first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post.Trump's designation as a subject came up as prosecutors and the president's legal team negotiate the terms of an interview with him. The president has said he wants to speak with Mueller's team, but his lawyers have not publicly committed to allowing him to be questioned.On Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to say whether the president remains willing to be questioned. In response to a question about the president being a subject, not a target, of the investigation, Sanders reiterated the president's claim that his campaign didn't collude with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign."We know what we did and what we didn't do, so none of this comes as much of a surprise," Sanders said. She referred further questions to Trump's attorneys.Trump attorney Jay Sekulow declined to confirm or discuss the conversations with Mueller, saying: "We do not discuss real or alleged conversations between our legal team and the Office of Special Counsel." White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment.The Justice Department typically treats people involved in investigations as witnesses, subjects or targets. Mueller's determination that Trump is a subject suggests he's more pivotal to the investigation than a mere witness, a designation for someone who has observed events of interest to agents and prosecutors."The government will say you're a subject trending to witness or you're a subject trending toward target," said Sharon McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan.Although targets tend to be people the government is gathering evidence against with the goal of prosecuting, subjects have a much looser, broader definition."A subject means we're still looking at you," McCarthy said. "You're a person of interest in this investigation."Still, the import of the designation wasn't immediately clear. It is not known, for instance, if Mueller's office has concluded that, at the moment, there is insufficient evidence to consider Trump a target. It is also possible that prosecutors agree they are bound by a Justice Department legal opinion that contends that a sitting president cannot be indicted.A grand jury is the way indictments are issued. Yet the White House witnesses with the most direct information about Trump's actions in the White House have spoken privately with Mueller's team instead of being summoned before the grand jury, a possible indication that their statements are being used for the purposes of assembling a report rather than pursuing criminal charges.Mueller's team has signaled that they're interested in discussing several key episodes in the early parts of the Trump administration as they probe possible obstruction of justice.Prosecutors have told the legal team they want to question Trump about the firings of former FBI Director James Comey and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.Investigators want to discuss conversations Trump had with Comey in which the former FBI director has said the president encouraged him to end an active investigation into Flynn. They're also interested in the events leading up to Flynn's February 2017 firing.Investigators have said they want to hear from the president to understand his intent and thinking during those events.
Lawyers representing U.S. President Donald Trump are told by FBI special counsel Robert Mueller the President is considered to be more than a witness but is not under criminal investigation.