Trump plans to submit answers to questions posed by special counsel

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he will submit his written answers to questions posed by special counsel Robert Mueller in his 18-month Russia election interference investigation next week. 

As he left the White House for California on Saturday to review that state's deadly wildfires, Trump also dismissed a report that he has been raising questions about Vice President Mike Pence’s loyalty, and reiterated his support for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to become House speaker.

The president on Friday said he had completed his answers to Mueller’s questions, saying he had written them himself, though his attorneys would review them. Trump made those comments a day after he tweeted angrily about the probe, calling it a “witch hunt.”

Asked by reporters Saturday when he would submit them to the special counsel’s office, Trump said, “We do that next week. They’re all done.”

But asked if he would do a sit-down interview with Mueller, Trump said, “We haven’t even talked about it.”

The president also complained about a New York Times story reporting he has sets his sights on his 2020 re-election race and that he has been raising questions with his aides about whether Pence is loyal to him.

“No, I don’t question his loyalty at all. He is 100 percent loyal. It was a phony story,” Trump said.

Many presidents have pondered whether to change running mates ahead of running for a second term. Trump had responded to questions about Pence at his news conference a week ago and asked him if he would be his running mate again. Pence stood up and nodded yes.

The president also restated support for Pelosi (D-Calif.) to become House speaker again, which would give Republican House candidates a foil in 2020. Pelosi said Thursday that Republicans and outside groups ran 137,000 negative ads about her to defeat Democrats in 2018.

Seventeen Democrats, including Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City), have sent a letter to Pelosi opposing her run for speaker, and several new Democratic members said during their campaigns they would not vote for her. Democrats will have a majority in the incoming House, and Pelosi says she believes she has the 218 votes needed.

“I would help Nancy Pelosi if she needs some votes,” Trump said. “I like her. Can you believe it? I like Nancy Pelosi. She’s tough and she’s smart, but she deserves to be speaker, and now they’re playing games with her, just like they’ll be playing with me.”

Trump also denied he is considering extraditing a critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pennsylvania resident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, to get Turkey to ease pressure on Saudi Arabia over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“It’s not under consideration,” Trump said, but he added, “We are looking, always looking” at whatever “we can do for Turkey.”

Trump said Erdogan had returned Pastor Andrew Brunson, an American who had been jailed in Turkey on charges of treason since 2016. “I get along very well with the president. He’s a friend of mine. He’s a strong man, he’s tough man and he’s a smart man,” Trump said.