WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump, in his written answers to special counsel Robert Mueller, said more than 30 times that he did not “recall” or “remember” or have an “independent recollection” of events related to key questions surrounding Russian investigation. 

As part of Mueller’s 448-page report, which was released Thursday and divided into two volumes, the Justice Department also released Trump’s answers to dozens of questions from Mueller’s office relating to key aspects of the investigation into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. 

The questions centered around five key topics: The June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with members of Trump’s circle and a Russian attorney, the Kremlin’s hacking efforts, the Trump Tower Moscow project and the various contacts with Russia during the campaign. 

The report noted that Mueller’s office tried for a year to interview Trump as part of its investigation, noting that the president was a “subject” of the investigation. Mueller’s office said it told Trump’s counsel that “[a]n interview with the president is vital to our investigation,” adding that “it is in the interest of the Presidency and the public for an interview to take place.” 

Trump’s answers were dubbed both “inadequate” and “incomplete or imprecise” by Mueller in the report. Mueller added that his office considered subpoenaing the president for his testimony but decided the “investigation had made significant progress” and that he had enough evidence from other sources to determine the credibility of Trump’s answers, the report states. 

More: Trump thought Mueller would ‘end’ his presidency and other takeaways from the Mueller report

President Trump’s answers to Robert Mueller’s questions about Russian contactsby Christal Hayes on Scribd