The president has long proven to have little tolerance for the Russia investigation, seeking to undercut it at nearly every turn and calling it a “witch hunt.” In so doing, he has attracted allegations of obstruction of justice, but he’s remained essentially seemingly undeterred in his efforts to see the end of the Russia investigation.
Against this backdrop, late Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who led the bureau as a whole in between James Comey’s firing and Christopher Wray’s confirmation. The firing was abrupt and could make McCabe unable to receive his government pension — and now, thanks to comments from Donald Trump’s lawyer to The Daily Beast, the firing is raising questions about whether the incident constitutes obstruction of justice.
Pressed for comment about the firing, Trump’s personal lawyer John Dowd turned it into an issue related to the Russia investigation, saying:
‘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.’
He initially told the publication that he was speaking on behalf of the president, but he’s now retracted that claim and told CNN that he was just speaking on behalf of himself.
When it comes to the Russia investigation, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is the “Acting Attorney General,” having taken over leadership of the investigation after Sessions recused himself from the matter. Sessions withdrew from the investigation after it came out that he himself could be considered a possible subject of it, seeing as he met with the (now former) Russian Ambassador to the United States.
Rosenstein is the one who appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who has so far brought charges against four former Trump associates, although three of those former Trump associates are now cooperating. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is the lone holdout.
As for Trump’s part, he has already been vocal in his praise of McCabe’s firing, but not for explicitly the same reason cited by his lawyer speaking to The Daily Beast.
Trump, who has long seemingly had it out for the FBI, called McCabe’s firing a “great day for Democracy” on Twitter Friday night, writing:
‘Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!’
He’s gone after McCabe in the past, railing against him last year for supposedly infecting the Clinton email investigation with corruption.
Dowd has himself attracted scrutiny in the past, claiming at one point to have himself written one of the president’s most legally questionable tweets.
Late last year, the president posted a message on the social media platform seeming to indicate that he knew former national security adviser Michael Flynn had lied to the FBI before he fired him, making his subsequent actions in defense of Flynn all the more questionable.
Dowd stepped in, however, after that controversy unfolded to claim that the tweet was his creation and didn’t reflect on the president.
Featured Image via Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images
