Tillerson decries ‘mean-spirited’ Washington as he departs his post
WASHINGTON – Fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson lamented the “mean-spirited” nature of Washington, D.C., as he bid goodbye to the U.S. diplomatic corps Thursday.
In a brief farewell address to State Department employees, Tillerson urged them to protect their personal integrity and to strive to respect one another.
“This can be a very mean-spirited town,” he said to laughter from a crowd of several hundred people. “But you don’t have to choose to participate in that.”
WASHINGTON – The shake-up of President Donald Trump’s legal team continued Thursday with the resignation of attorney John Dowd.
“I love the president, and I wish him well,” Dowd said in a brief statement.
The move comes at a critical juncture for Trump, whose lawyers are in the midst of negotiations with Russia inquiry special counsel Robert Mueller over terms of a possible interview with the president.
On Thursday, the president reaffirmed his willingness to meet with Mueller, telling reporters after a trade event at the White House: “Yes, I would like to.”
Dowd’s departure comes just three days after former federal prosecutor Joseph diGenova joined Trump’s team, as the president escalated his criticism of Mueller’s inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
The appointment of diGenova, who himself has offered strong rebukes of the Mueller investigation, likely signals a more aggressive push by Trump’s legal tea, which once pledged full cooperation with Mueller’s investigators.
DiGenova has cast the Russia inquiry as “an attempt to frame an incoming president with a false Russia conspiracy.”
The outspoken Dowd, who had taken leadership of the legal team last summer after the ouster of Trump’s longtime personal attorney Marc Kasowitz, stood out for his direct and sometimes brusque manner.
Last August, Dowd raised eyebrows when he acknowledged in an interview with USA TODAY that Trump had sent private messages of “appreciation” to Mueller.
Dowd cast the communications then as a sign that the president was willing to cooperate with Mueller.
“We get along well with Bob Mueller; our communications have been constructive,” the attorney said then. “But it is important that our communications remain confidential. It’s important that there not be any breakdown in that trust.”
But just Saturday, Dowd appeared to depart from that course of cooperation when he called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller’s inquiry at the Justice Department, to “bring an end to the alleged Russia collusion investigation.”
Dowd’s remarks were a prelude to a series of recent tweets from Trump, who has called on Mueller directly to shutter the inquiry, repeatedly referring to the investigation as a “witch hunt.”
Mueller has not responded publicly to Trump. But last week, Rosenstein offered his unqualified support for the special counsel.
“The special counsel is not an unguided missile,” Rosenstein said in an interview with USA TODAY. “I don’t believe there is any justification at this point for terminating the special counsel.”
Dowd’s initial appointment to the team was striking for his reputation as a legal brawler.
When he spoke of the president, he always offered his unconditional support.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a president so poorly and unfairly treated by the press,” Dowd said last summer, explaining why he accepted Kasowitz’s invitation to join the team. “It’s a hate campaign. The hostility directed at the president and his family is ridiculous.”