Trump shakes up his legal defense team with John Dowd's resignation

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump's lead attorney John Dowd resigns Another major White House shake-up, President Trump’s personal attorney John Dowd resigning as Trump's lead attorney in the Russia investigation.

WASHINGTON When President Trump is anxious, angry or ready to make a change, the targets of his ire almost never need to look any further than the president’s busy Twitter account.

This week, Trump’s legal team took the place of his Cabinet in the president’s line of fire.

Trump has made no secret of his impatience with the pace of the far-flung inquiry into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election, taking to Twitter to call for an end to the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. This weekend’s tweet flurry was followed by a shake-up of the president’s legal team at a critical juncture of the investigation.

The addition of former federal prosecutor Joseph diGenova and Thursday’s resignation of attorney John Dowd came as lawyers were in the midst of negotiations with Mueller over terms of a possible interview with Trump.

Thursday, the president reaffirmed his willingness to meet with Mueller: "Sure, I would like to."

Trump’s long-stated desire for a confrontation with prosecutors may provide the clearest explanation for the departure of Dowd, who sought to shield the president by seeking conditions for such a meeting.

Trump and Dowd argued about legal strategy, said two people familiar with the relationship. Dowd wanted to stress cautious cooperation with Mueller; Trump, as demonstrated by his weekend tweets, preferred a more aggressive approach.

The president was unhappy with Dowd’s handling of a weekend statement, in which the attorney echoed Trump’s call for an end to the investigation, said the two sources who were not authorized to comment publicly. Dowd said he was speaking for the president, then backtracked and said he was speaking for himself.

Trump felt Dowd had responded clumsily, and the attorney's decision to leave the team was a mutual one, the sources said.

"I love the president, and I wish him well," Dowd said in a brief statement.

Dowd's departure came three days after diGenova joined Trump's team. (DiGenova's law partner and wife, Victoria Toensing, also is likely to be part of the president's team. Former Trump legal team spokesman Mark Corallo, who retained Toensing to represent him as a witness in Mueller's inquiry, said Thursday that he signed documents Monday waiving any conflict of interest claim.)

In a series of broadcast interviews, diGenova has rebuked the Mueller investigation. His appointment may signal a more aggressive push by Trump’s legal team, which had pledged full cooperation.

DiGenova cast the Russia inquiry as “an attempt to frame an incoming president with a false Russia conspiracy.”

In January on Fox News, diGenova asserted that “the FBI and senior (Justice) officials conspired to violate the law and deny Donald Trump his civil rights.”

“The motive would be that they didn’t like Donald Trump; they didn’t think that he was fit to be president,” diGenova said.

DiGenova's style tracks with Trump in tone and choice of language.

Dowd emphasized cooperation with Mueller's investigators after he took leadership of the legal team last summer following the ouster of Trump's longtime personal attorney Marc Kasowitz.

Last August, Dowd acknowledged in an interview with USA TODAY that Trump sent private messages of “appreciation” to Mueller.

Dowd cast the communication 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. “But it is important that our communications remain confidential. It’s important that there not be any breakdown in that trust.”

Saturday Dowd 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."

Trump called on Mueller directly to shutter the inquiry, repeatedly referring to the investigation as a “witch hunt.”

Mueller has not responded publicly to Trump. 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.”

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More: Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, says Robert Mueller is 'not an unguided missile'

Dowd came onto the president’s legal team bringing a reputation as a legal brawler. He led Major League Baseball’s investigation into all-time hit king Pete Rose, an inquiry that resulted in Rose’s banishment from the game.

When Dowd spoke of the president, he never wavered from expressions of 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.”