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Lewandowski: Trump shouldn't meet with Mueller

President Donald Trump should not sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said.

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By
Marc Rod
, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump should not sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said.

"I haven't spoken to the President about it directly, but if he did ask my opinion ... my political advice would be not to sit down with Bob Mueller," Lewandowski said Thursday on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront."

RELATED: Mueller offers to reduce obstruction questions but still wants to interview Trump in person

Lewandowski's advice comes amid continued uncertainty about whether Trump will sit for an interview with Mueller's team and what an interview would include. Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani -- who has been negotiating with the Mueller team over interview parameters -- told Politico on Thursday that Trump and his lawyers will decide whether the President will meet with Mueller in a "week to 10 days," his latest estimate on when a final decision could come.

Lewandowski thinks such an interview would involve more unintended risks for Trump than benefits.

"There's been no evidence that this President did anything wrong, that the campaign did anything wrong during the campaign, and the opportunity to make a misstatement potentially or to potentially get caught up on the word 'is' is too great," he told Burnett, "and I don't think the President has any reason to sit down with Bob Mueller and have a conversation."

Lewandowski said Trump's lawyers are likely advising him against meeting with Mueller.

"Every good attorney traditionally wants to make sure that their client doesn't make any statements that could come back to cause them some kind of pain in the future," he said, "and that is what his legal team is, I think, recommending, is that the President doesn't sit down."

Lewandowski said, however, that he thinks Trump wants to talk to Mueller.

"I truly believe that this President wants to sit down and tell Bob Mueller his story, but his attorneys don't want him to do it," he said. "This President is saying (to his lawyers), 'Look, you negotiate the terms of this discussion, and I will sit down because I have nothing to hide.' "

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