Noah Feldman, Columnist

Trump Has a Clear Path to Refuse Mueller

Republicans would see the decision as "smart," especially now that they believe the inquiry is biased.

February 7, 2018 at 4:24 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Game of chicken.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images

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In the past, a president under investigation couldn’t afford to plead the Fifth Amendment. While it’s often a good strategy in a court of law -- especially since it can’t be used to infer guilt -- the court of public opinion is a different matter. What president would want to appear to be hiding guilt behind a legal technicality?

All bets are off in the Donald Trump era. The president’s lawyers have reportedly advised him not to cooperate with any request from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team to question him. So far, Mueller has not forced the issue with a subpoena, but that could change in the coming days or weeks.