Alex Wong/Zuma
On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump’s lawyer John Dowd told the Daily Beast he hoped Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, would end Bob Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia’s alleged interference with the 2016 presidential election.
“I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier,” Dowd wrote in an emailed statement to the Daily Beast.
Trump and his lawyers have said for months that they are cooperating fully with the investigation. This is apparently the first time anyone from Trump’s legal team has publicly said the probe should be shut down.
Dowd told the Daily Beast that he was speaking on behalf of the president, but minutes later he walked that back, telling a source he was actually speaking on his own behalf.
Cleanup Saturday: After Trump lawyer John Dowd tells the Daily Beast he was speaking on behalf of the president in calling for end of Mueller probe, source tells @evanperez that Dowd was speaking on behalf of himself
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 17, 2018
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, called Dowd’s call to end the Russia investigation a “flagrant abuse of power.”
The President, through his lawyer, called on DOJ to end Mueller probe. Obstruction of justice is no less a threat to our democracy when done in the open than behind closed doors. Every representative should condemn this flagrant abuse of power or stop pretending devotion to duty. https://t.co/YtwUXeOW23
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) March 17, 2018
