Trump legal team shaken up
Changes may make it more aggressive
WASHINGTON – When President Trump is anxious, angry or ready to make a change, the targets of his ire rarely need to look any further than the president’s busy Twitter account.
Trump has made no secret of his impatience with the pace of the farflung inquiry into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election, taking to Twitter to call for an end to the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. This weekend’s tweet flurry was followed by a shake-up of the president’s legal team.
The addition of former federal prosecutor Joseph diGenova and Thursday’s resignation of attorney John Dowd came as lawyers were in the midst of negotiations with Mueller over terms of a possible interview with Trump.
Thursday, the president reaffirmed his willingness to meet with Mueller, telling reporters: “Sure, I would like to.”
Trump’s long-stated desire for a confrontation with prosecutors may provide the clearest explanation for the departure of Dowd, who sought to shield
the president by seeking conditions for such a meeting.
Trump and Dowd argued about legal strategy, said two people familiar with the relationship. Dowd wanted to stress cautious cooperation with Mueller; Trump, as demonstrated by his weekend tweets, preferred a more aggressive approach.
The president was unhappy with Dowd’s handling of a weekend statement in which the attorney echoed Trump’s call for an end to the investigation, said the two sources, who were not authorized to comment publicly.
Dowd said he was speaking for the president, then backtracked and said he was speaking for himself.
Trump felt Dowd responded clumsily, and the attorney’s decision to leave the team was a mutual one, the sources said.
“I love the president, and I wish him well,” Dowd said in a brief statement.
Dowd’s departure came three days after diGenova joined Trump’s team.
In broadcast interviews, diGenova rebuked the Mueller investigation. His appointment may signal a more aggressive push by Trump’s legal team, which had pledged full cooperation.
DiGenova cast the Russia inquiry as “an attempt to frame an incoming president with a false Russia conspiracy.”
In January on Fox News, diGenova asserted that “the FBI and senior (Justice) officials conspired to violate the law and deny Donald Trump his civil rights.”
“The motive would be that they didn’t like Donald Trump; they didn’t think that he was fit to be president,” diGenova said.
DiGenova tracks with Trump in tone and choice of language.
Dowd emphasized cooperation with Mueller’s investigators after he took leadership of the legal team last summer following the ouster of Trump’s longtime personal attorney, Marc Kasowitz.
Last August, Dowd acknowledged in an interview with USA TODAY that Trump sent private messages of “appreciation” to Mueller.
Dowd cast the communication as a sign that the president was willing to cooperate with Mueller.
“We get along well with Bob Mueller; our communications have been constructive,” he said. “But it is important that our communications remain confidential. It’s important that there not be any breakdown in that trust.”
Saturday, Dowd called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller’s inquiry, to “bring an end to the alleged Russia collusion investigation.”
Dowd came onto the president’s legal team bringing a reputation as a legal brawler. He led Major League Baseball’s investigation into all-time hit king Pete Rose, an inquiry that resulted in Rose’s banishment from the game for gambling on his own team.
When Dowd spoke of the president, he never wavered from expressions of unconditional support. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a president so poorly and unfairly treated by the press,” Dowd said last summer. “It’s a hate campaign. The hostility directed at the president and his family is ridiculous.”