- President Donald Trump's personal defense lawyer, John Dowd, reportedly said it's time for the special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation to be shut down.
- Dowd initially said he was making the statement in his official capacity as Trump's attorney and representative, but later walked that back.
- Dowd's statement came after a Trump associate confirmed the Trump Organization — which Mueller has subpoenaed — was negotiating a deal with a sanctioned Russian bank during the election.
- One legal expert said Dowd's statement could be an "unintentional tell" that investigators are close to uncovering bombshell evidence of a crime in the Russia investigation.
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'Red alert time': Trump's personal attorney is now calling for the Russia probe to be shut down
This is the first time a member of President Trump's legal team has publicly called for the Russia investigation to be shut down.
President Donald Trump's personal lawyer thinks it's time Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein shutter the special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, according to The Daily Beast.
Dowd is one of the attorneys leading the president's defense team in the Russia investigation and the primary point of contact between Trump and Mueller.
"I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by [former FBI deputy director Andrew] McCabe's boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier," Dowd said in a text message, according to the report.
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Sessions fired McCabe on Friday amid an internal Department of Justice investigation into his handling of the FBI's investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server to conduct government business. Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation last year. He also said before becoming Attorney General that if he was confirmed to the position, he would recuse himself from any investigations related to Clinton.
Dowd told The Daily Beast on Saturday that he was responding on behalf of Trump and in his capacity as Trump's personal lawyer.
He also emailed the outlet a version of a line from the 20th-century play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof:
"What's that smell in this room[Bureau}? Didn't you notice it, Brick [Jim]? Didn't you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room[Bureau}?... There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity[corruption]... You can smell it. It smells like death.” Tennessee Williams — ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
Dowd later significantly walked back his comment, telling CNN that he was acting in his personal capacity and not as Trump's lawyer.
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Reached for comment about Dowd's remarks, White House lawyer Ty Cobb said in an email that the White House will continue cooperating with Mueller's investigation.
Targets always squeal louder when investigators get closer to the truth
Dowd's comments to The Daily Beast mark the first time a member of the president's legal team has publicly called for the special counsel's firing.
Dowd's comment came following reports this week that Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to its business dealings, including its push to build a Trump Tower in Moscow at the height of the presidential election.
Felix Sater, a Russian-born businessman and one of the individuals involved in the deal, said Friday that at the time, the Trump Organization was actively negotiating with VTB Bank, a sanctioned Russian bank to secure financing for the building.
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Asked by The New York Times' Michael Schmidt and Maggie Haberman last year about whether an investigation into his finances would breach a "red line" in the Russia probe,Trump answered, "I would say yeah."
"I don't make money from Russia. In fact, I put out a letter saying that I don't make — from one of the most highly respected law firms, accounting firms," he said. "I don't have buildings in Russia. They said I own buildings in Russia. I don't.
The comments stand in contrast to those made by Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., in a 2008New York Times op-ed. The younger Trump wrote, "In terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets."
"Say, in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo, and anywhere in New York," he added. "We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."
"If I were Mueller I would be encouraged by the statement," Cotter said. "Targets always squeal louder when the investigators get closer to the truth."
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