
"They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want".
President Donald Trump implied Friday that he - and not his legal team - will be personally answering written questions from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
Mueller had signaled a willingness to accept written answers on matters of collusion.
Mueller already has brought charges against a series of former Trump aides.
Trump has always been dismissive of the Russian Federation investigation and, while this admission means he is cooperating with Mueller, he continued to dismiss the legitimacy of the probe.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that he answered the questions "very easily" this week but added that "you have to always be careful". That decision angered Trump and led to the president repeatedly criticizing his attorney general in public.
Trump said that while he had finished the questions, he had not turned them into the special counsel yet.
The Washington Post reported that Trump had met with his attorneys for more than four hours on Monday and 90 minutes on Wednesday to discuss the questions.
"You always have to be careful answering questions for people who have bad intentions", he said of the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director.
Trump had huddled with lawyers at the White House this week but made clear: "My lawyers don't write answers, I write answers".
On Friday, Trump said he's not "agitated" by Mueller's probe. Very easily. I'm sure they are tricked up because you know they like to catch people.
Mueller is reportedly preparing to issue more indictments in the Russian Federation investigation, and they could come as soon as this week.
The president continued to maintain his innocence while launching new broadsides at the probe.
Rumors are reverberating that Mueller may be preparing more indictments and there has been widespread media coverage of two Trump allies - Roger Stone and Jerome Corsi - who say they expect to be charged.
For months, Trump has told confidants he fears that Donald Trump Jr., perhaps inadvertently, broke the law by being untruthful with investigators in the aftermath of a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer, according to one Republicans close to the White House.
Protesters gathered in front of the White House last week as part of a nationwide "Protect Mueller" campaign.