Donald Trump's Lawyers Should Be 'Very Concerned' About Mueller Probe's Guilty Pleas and Possible Interview, Says Ken Starr

President Donald Trump's legal team should be "very concerned" about the commander in chief sitting down with special counsel Robert Mueller for an interview, given the number of guilty pleas Mueller has gathered in his investigation, according to former special prosecutor Ken Starr.

Starr, while promoting his new book, Contempt, put himself in the position of being on Trump's defense team and noted that the pleas secured by Mueller, such as those from former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign aides Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos hinged on their having made false statements to the FBI.

"If I'm on his criminal defense team, I would be very concerned," Starr told Politico's Off Message podcast for an episode released Tuesday. "I don't know what President Trump knows, but there have been a number of guilty pleas. Some of those guilty pleas go to false statements, so I would just be cautious…"

Trump's attorneys, who include Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, have negotiated with Mueller for months over a possible face-to-face interview. Recent reports have indicated Trump would not agree to the meeting if the questions involved obstruction of justice, while Mueller had also agreed to allow the president to answer some questions in writing.

Starr stressed that Trump, given his status as head of the executive branch, had the "obligation to cooperate" with federal investigators, even though he admitted that he'd likely advise Trump otherwise, is he were one of his lawyers.

"He is the president of the United States, and I think that carries with it an obligation to cooperate with duly-authorized federal investigations," Starr said.

Starr, who shot to national prominence during his investigation and eventual impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, also appeared to push back on Trump's ability to avoid an investigation while he was president.

Starr said: "You're not above the law. You think you've got a timeout based upon your service as president. We respect you, you are occupying the presidency, you have a very important job. But there's no timeout. You have to respond when you're summoned to the bar of justice. That's the way I respond to all this. You have to be a rule of law person if you're going to occupy a position of trust."

Starr's comment stood in firm contrast to many made by the loquacious Giuliani. In June, the former New York City mayor told the Huff Post that a president could not be indicted "while he's in office" and suggested even if Trump "shot" former FBI director James Comey he would need to be impeached before he was prosecuted.

Both Sekulow and Giuliani agreed Monday that if Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were to be dismissed or if he resigned Mueller's investigation would require a "timeout" to allow fresh eyes to examine the case.