President Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, on Saturday said it was time for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to end the special counsel’s Russia investigation for good.
In a statement, Dowd said Rosenstein should follow the “courageous” example set by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Friday firing of former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe.
“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 told TPM in an email.
The Daily Beast was the first to report Dowd’s comments. Dowd initially told the Beast that he was speaking on behalf of the president, but subsequently told TPM he was speaking for himself.
Trump’s legal team has until now urged Robert Mueller’s team to conclude their investigation into Russia’s election interference as quickly as possible, but not asked that Mueller be fired.
This response comes in the wake of Sessions’ firing of McCabe for a “lack of candor” in his responses to an internal Justice Department investigation into how the FBI handled probes relating to the 2016 election.
Trump cheered McCabe’s dismissal on Twitter, calling it a “great day for democracy.”
Earlier this week, Rosenstein said Mueller was not an “unguided missile” and that he had not seen any “justification” for ending the special counsel investigation.
