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Mueller Has Interviewed Trump Legal Team’s Former Spokesman
Mark Corallo was one of the president’s defenders—until he became disgusted on ‘a moral and professional level.’ Now, he’s talking to the man looking into Trump’s Russia ties.
Larry Downing/Reuters
Mark Corallo, former spokesperson for President Donald Trump’s legal team, spoke with Special Counsel Bob Mueller earlier this week for over two hours, two people familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast. He isn’t expected to go in for another interview, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The New York Times reported last month that Corallo’s conversation with Mueller would likely involve topics related to potential obstruction of justice.
One moment that might be of particular interest to the special counsel: a now-infamous flight back from the G-20 summit, when Trump and his close aides –– including his daughter Ivanka, Jared Kushner, and Communications Director Hope Hicks –– drafted a deceptive statement regarding Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Kremlin-linked Russian nationals. According to the Times, Corallo was in a position to tell Mueller that Hicks once claimed the president’s sons emails about that meeting would “never get out.”
Corallo departed the White House shortly after Trump lambasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions in an interview with the Times. Corallo vocally defended Sessions during his hard-fought confirmation process, and people close to him told The Daily Beast that he found it hard to stomach the president’s criticism of the attorney general.
“To people who know him, his choice to leave was unavoidable on a moral and professional level,” one of his longtime friends told The Daily Beast at the time.
Corallo has long been plugged in to Washington’s conservative legal circles. He was a spokesperson for John Ashcroft during his time as Attorney General, and is also a longtime friend and spokesperson for Blackwater founder Erik Prince.
Mueller has been busy. NBC News reported that his team spent more than 20 hours interviewing Steve Bannon this past week.
And this isn’t the first time Mueller has brought in people close to his subjects’ legal team—which has raised eyebrows. Mueller previously subpoenaed Jason Maloni, a spokesperson for the legal team representing Paul Manafort.