DONALD Trump’s former lawyer has said that the Russia investigation team has considered ordering a grand jury subpoena to compel the president to testify.

Lawyer John Dowd alleged that special counsel Robert Mueller’s team broached the subject in March during a meeting with Trump’s legal team while they were negotiating the terms of a possible interview with the president.

The meeting marked the first time the special counsel’s office raised the possibility of compelling Trump to testify as part of the ongoing investigation.

Mueller is examining Russian meddling in the 2016 election, whether Trump’s campaign was involved and if the president obstructed justice after the campaign.

Dowd’s comments come more than a month after he resigned from the legal team, and they provide fresh insight into the nature of the Trump legal team’s interactions with the special counsel, who the president has increasingly tried to undermine through public attacks.

On Tuesday, Trump said it was “disgraceful” that a list of proposed questions drafted by his lawyers, in response to negotiations with Mueller’s team, were “leaked” to the media.

Late on Monday, The New York Times published around four dozen of these questions.

The newspaper report said Trump’s lawyers compiled the questions into a list and that document was “provided to The Times by a person outside Mr Trump’s legal team”.

The questions range from Trump’s motivations for firing FBI director James Comey last year to links between the president’s campaign and Russia.

Although Mueller’s team has indicated to Trump’s lawyers that he is not considered a target, investigators remain interested in whether the president’s actions constitute obstruction of justice and want to interview him about several episodes in office. They have not yet made a decision about an interview.

In one question obtained by the New York Times, Mueller asks what Trump knew about campaign staff, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, reaching out to Moscow.

Mueller has brought several charges against Manafort already, including money laundering and bank fraud.

None of the charges relate to allegations of Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Manafort, meanwhile, has denied having any involvement in organising such an effort.

The queries also relate to discussions Trump may have had regarding “any meeting with Mr Putin”, referring to the Russian president, Vladimir.

Another question asks what the president may have known about a possible attempt by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to set up a back channel with Russia before Trump’s inauguration.

Many of the questions obtained by the Times centre on the obstruction issue including his reaction to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the Russia investigation, a decision Trump has angrily criticised.

Trump’s businesses are also mentioned, including discussions with his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, about a possible Moscow real estate deal.

Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow declined to comment, as did White House lawyer Ty Cobb.

On Twitter, the president said that there were “no questions on Collusion” and, not for the first time, called Mueller’s investigation a “Russian witch hunt”.

He said collusion with the Russians “never existed”.

In a second tweet, Trump added: “It would seem very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened.”