The 5-Minute Fix: What Trump’s legal team really means when they say ‘perjury trap’

May 07, 2018

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By Amber Phillips

It's a perjury trap.

If he can be fair.

There's nothing I want to do more.

These are the catchy phrases and statements that President Trump and his legal team repeatedly use to explain why they probably aren't going to sit down voluntarily with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to talk about Russian interference in the 2016 election. And as usual with politicians, there's what they say and what they mean by what they say. Let's translate some of the most-used lines the best we can:

1. "Perjury trap"

(AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB and Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

How Team Trump uses this: As a way to discredit Mueller's investigation by suggesting he's only trying to talk to the president to catch the president in a lie.

Used in a sentence: "I’m going to walk him into a prosecution for perjury like Martha Stewart did?" — Rudolph W. Giuliani to ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.

What it could really mean: That they're concerned Trump, not Mueller, will say something untrue (just as Martha Stewart did). Trump's lawyers are well aware of their client's bendy relationship with the truth: The president has made 3,0001 false or misleading claims as of the beginning of this month, according to The Post Fact Checker.

Unraveling President Trump's top 5 claims | The Fact Checker

2. "If" Mueller will be fair

Robert S. Mueller III in 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

How Team Trump uses this: As a precondition for their participation with Mueller.

Used in a sentence: "I have to find that we’re going to be treated fairly." — Trump to reporters on Friday.

What it could really mean: An attempt to lay the groundwork for a future explanation on why Trump refuses to sit down with the special counsel. It's particularly useful, because "fair" is a subjective term.

3. "Nothing I want to do more"

President Trump talking to reporters on Friday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

How Team Trump employs this: To illustrate a president eager to be interviewed by Mueller.

Used in a sentence: "Nothing I want to do more because we did nothing wrong," — Trump on Friday.

What it could really mean: The opposite of what Trump says. Trump seems willing to risk a protracted legal fight with Mueller that could go all the way to the Supreme Court so he can avoid being interviewed. But by publicly claiming he wants to talk with Mueller, he can blame someone else (Mueller or his own legal team) if it doesn't happen.

The (likely) end of the Iran nuclear deal: How we got here

French President Emmanuel Macron came to Washington in April to try to convince Trump to stay in the deal. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

On Tuesday, Trump will announce whether the U.S. will stay in a global pact aimed at stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons. It's possible he'll get out, a controversial decision that most Western world leaders and a significant number of members of Congress disagree with, but one that's entirely consistent with Trump's governing philosophy. Here's how we got to this point:

2015: President Obama announces the Iran deal, one of his last major actions in office.

2016: Trump gets elected on a platform of dismantling Obama's legacy, including this deal — which Trump claims is too soft.

2017: Instead of ending the United States' involvement in the deal right away, Trump actually tosses its fate to Congress to decide what to do. It ends up doing the predictable: Nothing. So the deal stayed in place for the first year under Trump's watch.

2018: We're up against another deadline Saturday for Trump to decide whether to waive sanctions on Iran — which would keep the deal alive — or implement sanctions, which could derail the entire deal. He's playing his cards close to his chest, but keep in mind Trump's skepticism of multilateral deals in general, his inclination to please his base and his reflexes to undo all things Obama-created.

Melania Trump: A mysterious first lady and wife

Trump kisses his wife as she announces an initiative to help children on Monday at the White House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

They're often apart, even during their free time. She's been known to publicly flinch at his touch. She rarely pokes her head in to the West Wing to see how he's doing. And hours after a story broke about Trump's alleged affair with a Playboy model, they went to great lengths not to be seen together, write The Post's Mary Jordan, Emily Heil and Josh Dawsey in a deeply reported story about the Trumps' marriage.

"Political marriages tend to be more complicated than most," they write, "but it’s striking that the Trumps make so little effort to project a more united front."

Melania Trump appears to push president’s hand away

Here's one tidbit from the story that's become a talker on Monday, the same day Melania Trump premiered an anti-cyber bullying campaign with a rare public speech:

In February, hours after the New Yorker published a story about Trump’s alleged affair with McDougal, the Playboy model, Melania did not walk with Trump across the White House’s South Lawn to board Marine One.

Both Trumps were heading to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend, but instead of making the very public walk across the White House lawn with her husband to the helicopter, she drove separately to the Maryland military airport to catch Air Force One. Grisham told reporters at the time that given the first lady’s schedule, it was just easier for the couple to meet at the plane. When her motorcade pulled up, White House press aides shouted at journalists to get off the plane until she boarded. No photos were allowed of her arrival.

Analysis

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