President Donald Trump’s top personal lawyer John Dowd resigned Thursday after saying over the weekend that the Justice Department should end Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.
The resignation comes as Trump was frustrated with Dowd’s handling of the comments about Mueller, while Dowd concluded Trump was ignoring his advice, the New York Times reports. Dowd reportedly considered resigning at multiple points before, and his departure signals a major shakeup is underway in Trump’s legal team.
A source told the Times Trump was pleased with Dowd’s resignation. Dowd stirred controversy when he said Mueller’s investigation should end, comments he later walked back.
Under Dowd, Trump’s legal team has advised him to leave the Muller investigation alone. Now it is not clear who will take over for him and what will be the strategy going forward, with Trump’s other personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, bringing in Joseph diGenova this week.
Sekulow expressed support for Dowd’s work while on Trump’s legal team.
"John Dowd is a friend and has been a valuable member of our legal team," Sekulow said. "We will continue our ongoing representation of the president and our cooperation with the office of special counsel."
A White House lawyer, Ty Cobb, came on around the same time as Dowd, and the Times reports Trump has recently discussed the possibility of terminating him.
Trump has also interviewed Emmet Flood, who worked on former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment case, to join his legal team. After that was reported, Trump took to Twitter to say he was completely satisfied with his lawyers and there was "no collusion with Russia."
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/972829763067883523
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