John Dowd resignation could mean Trump switching approach to Mueller probe
The resignation of John Dowd, President Trump’s lead attorney in the Russia probe, likely represents a shift in the way the White House will approach special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to Judge Andrew Napolitano.
“It’s indicative of the fact that the president has begun to take seriously whatever it is Bob Mueller is going to press upon him,” Napolitano told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney during an interview on Thursday.
Dowd and Ty Cobb, also a lawyer for Trump, both favored giving Mueller, who’s investigating whether Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election in support of the Trump campaign, everything he needed to conduct the probe.
But there’s a division among Trump attorneys: Don McGahn, the official White House counsel, prefers to resist the special counsel’s investigation. And most recently, Trump hired Joseph diGenova, a longtime Washington lawyer who’s been pushing the idea that the FBI and the Justice Department framed the president.
“The hiring of Joe diGenova, who comes from the Don McGahn school, ‘Let’s not cooperate with Bob Mueller, let’s fight and resist him,’ shows an entirely different, more serious attitude on the part of the president recognizing the danger to him of cooperating with Bob Mueller’s investigation,” Napolitano said.
Dowd’s resignation sent stocks plummeting, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 400 points.
Fox News' John Roberts contributed to this report.