President Trump told Reuters he was worried that any statements under oath he provides to special counsel Robert Mueller could be used to bring perjury charges against him as part of the probe into Russia’s electoral interference.

“The president expressed fears that investigators could compare his statements with that of others who have testified in the probe, such as former FBI Director James Comey, and that any discrepancies could be used against him.”

Said Trump: “Even if I am telling the truth, that makes me a liar. That’s no good.”

Also interesting: “Trump also declined to say whether he might strip Mueller of his security clearance.”

A new Monmouth poll finds that just 30% say President Trump hires the “best people,” while a clear majority of 58% say he does not. Another 7% volunteer that the quality of his hiring choices have been mixed.

While 67% of Republicans say that Trump does hire the best people, a sizable minority of his fellow partisans either disagree (18%) or give a mixed response (11%). On the other hand, 93% of Democrats say that Trump does not hire the best people.

Meanwhile, Trump’s overall job rating stands at 43% approve and 50% disapprove.

Jonathan Chait: “Throughout the Russia scandal, President Trump has acted flamboyantly guilty, most recently by comparing himself implicitly with Richard Nixon during Watergate, and dismissing informants as “rats.” And yet a weekend report in Axios confidently asserted that the president maintains a fully innocent state of mind: ‘Trump himself thought then and thinks now that he personally has nothing to lose because he personally did nothing wrong.'”

“How could reporters know what Trump ‘believes’ deep in his heart? They couldn’t. (Indeed, Axios since corrected the statement to report that it reflects what Trump ‘tells associates,’ rather than claiming definitive insight into his mind.) Yet this practice is extremely common within the news media. While they have dug up an extraordinary amount of incriminating facts about Trump, reporters have also repeatedly leaned into the most exculpatory interpretations of those same facts.”

“There is no question that something is tragically wrong with the president of the United States in his mind.”

— Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), quoted by the Orlando Sun-Sentinel.

“President Trump’s lawyers do not know just how much the White House counsel, Donald McGahn, told the special counsel’s investigators during months of interviews, a lapse that has contributed to a growing recognition that an early strategy of full cooperation with the inquiry was a potentially damaging mistake,” the New York Times reports.

“The president’s lawyers said on Sunday that they were confident that Mr. McGahn had said nothing injurious to the president during the 30 hours of interviews. But Mr. McGahn’s lawyer has offered only a limited accounting of what Mr. McGahn told the investigators.”

”That has prompted concern among Mr. Trump’s advisers that Mr. McGahn’s statements could help serve as a key component for a damning report by the special counsel.”

President Trump claims a recent New York Times story about White House counsel Don McGahn cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller is so “fake” other “members of the media” have called him to apologize for it.

Playbook: “Why would reporters be angry at the New York Times and call the White House?”

Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) told ABC News that President Trump will regret not invoking executive or attorney-client privilege in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

Said Christie: “You never waive that. Absolutely not. This shows what a C-level legal team the president had in Ty Cobb and John Dowd.”

He added: “This is not in the president’s interest. It wasn’t in the president’s interest. It’s bad legal advice. Bad lawyering.”

Darren Beattie, a speechwriter for President Trump who attended a conference frequented by white nationalists in 2016, has left the White House, CNN reports.

“The White House, which asked CNN to hold off on the story for several days last week declined to say when Beattie left the White House. Beattie’s email address at the White House, which worked until late Friday evening, was no longer active by Saturday.”