Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that he wants negotiations over a presidential interview with special counsel Robert Mueller to be completed by Sept. 1. But the presidential attorney is also making the case that Republicans could benefit from dragging the process into the November midterm elections.

"When I first got involved, I would have told you not testifying would be the right legal strategy but then hurt politically," Giuliani told CNN in a phone interview Wednesday. "Now I'm thinking the continuance of the investigation would actually help because people are getting tired of it, and (the President) needs something to energize his voters because the Democrats look like they're energized. Nothing would energize (Republicans) more than, 'Let's save the President.' "

Giuliani's comments came as the Trump legal team sent its latest rebuttal to the special counsel's office, once again laying out concerns with the scope of Mueller's request to interview the President in a letter that appears to do little to bridge the gap with Mueller's team.

Republican operatives increasingly view the special counsel's investigation as a base-rallying tool for the midterms -- an outlook reflected in Giuliani's musings about interview negotiations bleeding into the fall campaign.