In a statement sent to Daily Beast on Saturday morning, John Dowd, personal attorney for President Trump, reacted to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ firing of former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe by calling for the firing of special counsel Robert 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 McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier,” Dowd said.

By linking Mueller’s investigation with McCabe, Dowd confirmed a key claim in McCabe’s response to his termination — that Sessions’ move against him is really all about discrediting the Mueller investigation.

“The attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally,” McCabe said. “It is part of this administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel’s work.”


As part of his investigation, Mueller is scrutinizing whether Trump’s repeated and public efforts to meddle in the DOJ constitute obstruction of justice. The perception that Trump forced his attorney general to fire a longtime FBI deputy in order to discredit a potential key witness in the investigation certainly doesn’t help Trump or his attorneys make the case that the president did nothing wrong.

Dowd initially told the Daily Beast his statement spoke on behalf of the president “as his counsel.” But perhaps realizing that linking McCabe’s firing with Trump’s desire to end the investigation into himself isn’t a great look, Dowd quickly walked it back.

According to the New York Times, “in a subsequent statement issued on Saturday morning by Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Mr. Dowd backtracked from his earlier remarks, saying that he had been ‘speaking for myself, not the president.'”