Giuliani: Trump wouldn't 'have to' obey a Mueller subpoena, could take the 5th
"Giuliani, who joined the president's legal team two weeks ago, also said that if Trump does agree to be questioned, he might invoke his 5th Amendment right to guard against self-incrimination."
As you probably know, Trump has asserted that only guilty people take the 5th, so I guess he would be admitting his guilt if he takes the 5th, since that is what he personally believes the 5th is for.
While there is usually no good reason for innocent people to take the 5th, since the whole point is most often to avoid self-incrimination, there are other reasons for "pleading the 5th." The Fifth simply says that you do not have to testify against yourself, and there could be many reasons for wishing to avoid that situation. You may wish to avoid revealing details about some crime you have never been accused of, for example; or you may just be such an obnoxious person, or such a careless witness, that a jury will hate you even if you're innocent; or you may wish to avoid testifying under oath about something non-criminal which might come up in the process of testimony, like fathering a child or having sex with a porn star. Since President Trump is both careless and obnoxious, and is pretty much a pathological liar, he would be an excellent candidate to take the 5th in any proceeding, even if he is totally innocent of every Russia-related activity that the Democrats suspect him of.
The 5th states, "No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." That's not very specific, and requires a lot of legal disputation. It appears that a President cannot invoke the 5th in an impeachment trial, since it is not a criminal proceeding, but even that is debatable. It does appear, however, that Trump would be completely within his rights to refuse to testify in a Mueller interview, and by doing so, would not necessarily be admitting guilt to any actions involving Russia.
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