Politics
Thomson Reuters
Lawyer Dowd exits Manhattan Federal Court after his client, Galleon hedge fund founder Rajaratnam, was found guilty
- President Donald Trump's former attorney, John Dowd, said he and special counsel Robert Mueller had a great relationship while he was working for the president.
- Dowd had said he hoped the Russia investigation Mueller is leading would end soon earlier this month.
- Dowd stated that he is taking time to rest after a taxing few months on Trump's legal team.
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John Dowd, President Donald Trump's former attorney, is praising special counsel Robert Mueller now that he has resigned from the legal team working for the president amid the Russia investigation.
Earlier this month, Dowd said that he hoped federal officials would "bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation," according to NBC News, saying it had been set up based on a "fraudulent" dossier about Trump's alleged ties to Russia. But on Tuesday, five days after he left Trump's team, Dowd told the National Law Journal that he and Mueller, who is leading the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, had a great relationship.
"We had a terrific relationship with Mueller - the best that I can recall in my 50 years of practice," he said. "It was terrific, completely open, people trusted each other, and we had no misunderstandings."
Dowd said that he often spoken personally with Mueller over the phone and that he and lawyer Jay Sekulow, who is now the top lawyer on Trump's team in the Russia investigation, had often gone together to meet with the special counsel's team.
Earlier this month, Dowd came under fire for his comments about the Mueller probe, and eventually walked back his statements and said they were purely his own, not the president's.
But shortly afterward, Trump himself tweeted a statement similar to the one Dowd has just disavowed.
"The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime," he wrote. "It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!"
Reflecting on his job and looking forward to retirement
Dowd resigned after Trump refused to heed his advice about how to approach the Russia probe, according to The New York Times. He refused to elaborate on why he left Trump's team.
"I'm not going to discuss why I resigned," Dowd said. "It was very hard work. You had to pay attention every day."
New reports show that during his time as Trump's lawyer, Dowd discussed potential pardons for two people who have been indicted in Mueller's probe - former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.
But since Dowd's resignation, Trump has hard a hard time finding lawyers to replace him, and when asked about the situation, Dowd chose to bow out of the discussion.
"I have exited the stage," he said.
He told The Wall Street Journal that his time commenting on issues of national importance will be on hold for a while.
"I think what I'm trying to do is just take it easy, and get some rest," he said.