President Donald Trump’s legal team plans to submit answers to special counsel Robert Mueller by Thanksgiving, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The president and his lawyers have spent several days this week meeting at the White House to formulate responses to written questions from Mueller’s team.

But the president will not be answering any questions related to obstruction of justice — a critical part of the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 presidential campaign. Because the answers are in writing, the president's legal team can presumably decide which questions they do and do not want to answer.

It’s not clear why it has taken so long to get these answers to Mueller. Five months ago, Rudy Giuliani said publicly he’d like to get "our part over to them by July 4th."  

And while the president told reporters on the South Lawn yesterday that "we haven’t even talked about” a sit-down with Mueller, Trump did initially indicate he would be open to an in-person interview with Mueller. And as recently as August, he pushed for it against his lawyers’ advice, according to the New York Times.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, President Trump said he "probably" would not sit down with Mueller to answer questions in person. "I think we've wasted enough time on this witch hunt," Trump said, adding that after the written questions are submitted, "probably this is the end."