Rep. Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.) of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday that President Donald Trump and his lawyers would be unwise to interfere with Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.
Gowdy appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and said Trump and his lawyers should act more like the president is innocent of the charge of colluding with the Russians in the 2016 election.
Host Chris Wallace asked Gowdy whether he supported Trump’s lawyer John Dowd’s statement that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should end Mueller’s investigation.
"I don't [support Dowd’s statement], and I think the president's attorney, frankly, does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way," Gowdy said.
Gowdy said Mueller’s jurisdiction to investigate Russian involvement in the election is vital, and he said Dowd was wrong to suggest Mueller is only looking for evidence against Trump.
"To suggest that Mueller should shut down and all that he is looking at his collusion—if you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it," Gowdy said.
Wallace asked whether Trump may begin to take more aggressive actions to stop Mueller’s investigation, and Gowdy cautioned against it.
"I hope that's not what's happening," Gowdy said. "This is the same Bob Mueller that just indicted a dozen Russians for interfering with our election in 2016. My advice to the president is the same thing I just told his lawyer: Give Bob Mueller the time, the independence, and the resources to do the job."
Gowdy said the House is not able to do very much about Trump’s management of the Justice Department because the Senate is the one with advice and consent. He said Trump trying to get rid of Mueller would make 2018 a difficult time for the administration to get anything done.
"I think the president is going to have a really difficult time nominating and having approved another attorney general," Gowdy said. "It's going to be a very, very long, bad 2018. It's going to be distracting from other things that he wants to do and was elected to do. Let it play out its course—if you've done nothing wrong, you should want the investigation to be as fulsome and thorough as possible."