Actual picture of John Dowd (screencapped from CNBC)
John Dowd has not covered himself in glory conducting Donald Trump’s defense against allegations that he colluded with Russian operatives and obstructed justice. He’s been seen on television making patently ridiculous legal arguments, and he’s been generally unable to control his client or prevent him from influencing an ongoing investigation. He gave reporters the finger (pictured).
In Dowd’s defense, we don’t know how many crazy tweets or despotic acts Dowd has been able to stop. But we’re about to find out. The New York Times reports that he is stepping down.
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The scuttlebutt is that Dowd is stepping down over Trump’s increasingly aggressive tweets about the Mueller investigation. This tweet here seems to have been some kind of “red line” for Dowd:
The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018
Attacking the special counsel undermines the entire investigative process. But it’s also terrible legal strategy. As I’ve said before, the overriding goal of Trump’s legal team should be to keep him out of the witness box in front of a grand jury.
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Cooperation is a key component of that process. If he gets in the box it is game over — Trump is simply not capable of telling the truth under intense questioning for hours on end.
Trump clearly wants to testify. Some will say that Dowd leaving only clears the way for that happening. And anybody who is excited about the prospects of the President of the United States perjuring himself might be momentarily happy that Dowd is gone. As a bonus, Ty Cobb — the singular voice of reason on Trump’s legal team — was brought in specifically by Dowd. With Dowd gone, Cobb cannot be long for this world.
But you have to play the tape through to the end. I imagine that Alan Dershowitz is checking his phone right now, waiting for a call up to the big leagues. But as of right now, the lawyer-in-charge would seem to be Joseph diGenova.
Folks, Joseph diGenova is a conspiracy theorist who believes that Trump is being framed by the FBI, Clinton supporters, and the “Deep State.”
If you like the “rule of law” or the “proper administration of justice,” diGenova is not the guy you want playing a leading role. Why would this guy allow Trump to testify in front of a grand jury he believes is a set-up? We can expect a full attack on the integrity of the special counsel, coming from all angles of TrumpWorld. We can expect full crazy.
And the tweets. Dear God, the tweets. It’s going to be every day now. Every day will be “witch hunt” this and “NO COLLUSION” that. Every day will be a call for Mueller to be fired. Every day will be the suggestion that the special counsel is sinister and can’t be trusted.
I know some of you think that we’ve been living in that world already, but we haven’t. It’s going to get so, so much worse now.
There’s still Jeff Sessions. The Confederate Attorney General remains as a bulwark against Trump prematurely ending the Mueller probe. Who knows how long he can hold out on that island? Even Vicksburg was eventually taken.
Our time of troubles continues.
John Dowd Resigns as Trump’s Lead Lawyer in Special Counsel Inquiry [New York Times]
Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.