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John Dowd Resigns as Trump's Lead Lawyer in Mueller Probe

By Shannon Pettypiece, Bloomberg

22 March 18

 

ohn Dowd resigned as Donald Trump’s lead attorney against Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe as the president’s impatience grows over the intensifying inquiry into possible collusion in the 2016 election.

His decision came after Trump decided to add a new high-profile lawyer, Joseph diGenova, to his legal team. A frequent guest on Fox News, diGenova has publicly attacked Mueller’s investigation and the FBI, saying he believes Trump was framed by Justice Department officials on a political vendetta.

DiGenova’s remarks put him at odds with the posture of cooperation and deference Trump’s lawyers have publicly taken toward Mueller and his hiring could signal a more confrontational approach.

Later Thursday, when Trump was asked by reporters whether he still wants to testify to Mueller, he said, “Yes, I would like to.”

But the president has been impatient for Mueller’s investigation to come to a close, and the loss of Dowd may only drag out the process. Dowd had acted as the team’s point person in dealing with Mueller and has spent months carefully negotiating terms of an interview between Mueller and Trump.

Dowd was deeply versed in the facts of the case, including the tens of thousands of pages of documents that had been handed over to Mueller and the dozens of witnesses Mueller had interviewed.

DiGenova is coming in late to an effort that has been going on since the summer and faces a heavily staffed team of Justice Department investigators on the other side. He also could find himself at odds with Trump’s other lawyers, who have set a tone of cooperation with Mueller. DiGenova, for example, has suggested that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller’s work, to be removed and appointed as a judge.

Cobb couldn’t be reached for comment. The White House has denied reports Trump wants to fire Cobb.

Dowd and Cobb were originally recruited with full awareness of the long history they share with Mueller. Cobb has had a friendly working relationship with Mueller for more than three decades, and Dowd shares a common bond over their time as prosecutors and as Marines who served in Vietnam.

Dowd was handpicked by longtime Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz over the summer, when it became clear Mueller’s investigation could last months, if not years, and questions were raised about whether Trump had obstructed justice.

Early in his career, Dowd worked at the Justice Department where he focused on racketeering, corruption and tax-evasion cases.

Dowd comes from a family of Marines and has stayed involved in the Corps, providing pro bono legal work to Marines. He is known for his combative style, talking in military terms when discussing a case and viewing himself as at war, ferociously battling his opponents.