Washington, May 2: Special counsel Robert Mueller warned Donald Trump's lawyers earlier this year that he would subpoena the President to appear before a grand jury if he refused to talk with his team as part of a probe into alleged Russian election meddling in the 2016 presidential election, the media reported.

Mueller made the comment in response to the Trump legal team's argument during a March meeting that the President wasn't obligated to speak to federal investigators in the probe into Russian meddling, the Washington Post reported.

"This isn't some game," Trump's then-lawyer John Dowd reportedly replied. "You are screwing with the work of the President of the US."

Dowd, who was leading the response to Mueller's probe on Trump's personal legal team, abruptly left the legal team in March.

According to the report, in the wake of the March meeting, Trump's attorneys created a list of questions they believed that Mueller's team would ask the President during an interview.

Those questions were based off the topics that investigators told Trump's lawyers they wanted to discuss with the President.

The list of questions, which The New York Times first reported on Monday, included inquiries about the decisions to fire National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James Comey; whether Trump communicated with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the campaign; and the President's reported attempts to fire Mueller.

Asked whether the President would ever plead the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions, sources told CNN that Trump's legal team believed there were many "constitutional challenges" that would need to be met before that possibility even would be considered.

Trump railed against the questions in a tweet on Tuesday, claiming that there were "no questions about collusion", despite several questions about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian being included on the reported list.

Trump's lawyers said the President has not shut the door to a possible agreement for an interview. His new legal team is still assessing that before making a recommendation, the sources added.

If Trump refuses to give a voluntary interview, prosecutors could issue a subpoena compelling testimony.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 02, 2018 09:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).