Yet another one of President Trump’s “best people” is apparently resigning, though this time, it isn’t one of the reality television star turned politician’s advisors or administrators. Instead, it’s John Dowd, the lead of several personal lawyers who have been advising Trump on all things regarding Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing and expanding investigation into possible Russian collusion with his campaign. Two sources with knowledge of the matter first reported Dowd’s departure to the New York Times, which was later confirmed by fellow Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow in a statement to Politico.
According to prior reporting by the Times, Trump was considering reshuffling his personal legal team due to his constant disagreements with their advice. The president rebuffed these claims in a series of tweets in mid-March, saying the paper “purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out.” Instead, he claimed, he was “VERY happy” with Dowd, Sekulow, and Ty Cobb, and thought they were “doing a great job.” However, it seems Dowd had “ultimately concluded that Mr. Trump was increasingly ignoring his advice”:
The president has instead in recent days begun publicly assailing Mr. Mueller, a shift in tone that appears to be born of the president’s concern that the investigation is bearing down on him more directly. He has also privately insisted he should sit for an interview with the special counsel’s office, even though Mr. Dowd believed it was a bad idea.
Speaking to Politico, Sekulow said, “John Dowd has been a valuable member of our legal team and we will continue our ongoing cooperation with the office of special counsel regarding this inquiry.” Despite acknowledging Dowd’s resignation but continued devotion to Trump’s case against Mueller’s probe, however, he “declined to address how the Trump legal team would be organized going forward.” After all, as Politico notes, it was Dowd who was negotiating with Mueller’s team about a possible interview (or lack thereof) with the president himself.
(Via New York Times and Politico)