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Trump says he has finished writing answers to Mueller's questions

Amid reports of the president's foul mood and impending staff shakeups, Trump said he is "very happy with the White House."
Image: Donald Trump
President Donald Trump speaks after signing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Nov. 16, 2018.Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he has personally prepared — and finished — his written answers to questions from special counsel Robert Mueller regarding the investigation into Russian election interference and possible links between Trump's campaign and Moscow.

"I've answered them very easily. I'm working on them,” he told reporters at the White House, before stressing that his lawyers weren't writing the responses.

"You always have to be careful answering questions for people who probably have bad intentions," Trump added. “I haven't submitted them yet. I just finished them.”

Trump, who on Thursday slammed the special counsel investigation as a "total mess" that has "gone absolutely nuts," said those posts were "not at all" triggered by anything.

"I'm not agitated. It's a hoax. The whole thing is a hoax," he said. "I'm very happy with the White House."

Later, the president added that "there should have never been any Mueller investigation."

"I imagine it's ending or, from what I hear, it's ending," he said. "I'm sure we’ll be just fine. And you know why? Because there was no collusion."

Just a day earlier, Trump had raged about the probe, tweeting that investigators were "a disgrace to our Nation" and claiming without providing evidence that they were "screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want."

Trump's expressions of public anger came after he forced out Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had recused himself from the investigation, and named Matt Whitaker as acting attorney general, and after reports this week that he was stewing inside the White House, angry at staff and world leaders.

NBC News reported on Tuesday that Trump's legal team was nearing completion of written answers to questions posed by Mueller. The answers will pertain only to matters relating to Russian interference in the 2016 election, not obstruction of justice, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The New York Times reported in April on a series of questions Mueller wants to ask Trump, which NBC News has not independently confirmed. According to that list, Mueller wants to ask Trump about his 2013 trip to Moscow, his effort to build a Trump Tower in that city, his discussions about meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and when he learned that the Russians had hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential campaign.