
In an email to The Daily Beast on Saturday following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ late-night firing of former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, John Dowd — President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer — called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to “bring an end to [the] alleged Russia collusion investigation” being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I pray that 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 wrote.
Initially, Dowd told The Daily Beast that, in making this call, he was speaking on behalf of Trump “as his counsel,” but later walked this claim back.
“After publication of this story…Dowd emailed to say he was actually speaking in his personal capacity, and not on the president’s behalf,” noted The Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff.
Commentators reacted to Dowd’s remarks with alarm on Twitter, and some lawmakers issued calls for Congress to do everything in its power to protect Mueller’s probe.
Here it is, the point all of the attacks on law enforcement by Trump, Nunes, Fox News and the rest have been inevitably building to. Red alert time. https://t.co/httpljrSYA
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) March 17, 2018
Statement of Andrew McCabe & the public reporting suggest the issue was that McCabe allegedly gave info to press that damaged Clinton campaign.
That has nothing to do with the Mueller investigation of @realDonaldTrump. John Dowd is showing desperation with his statement below. https://t.co/iOMlW7iWK0
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 17, 2018
If you didn’t see this coming, you’ve been asleep for the past year and two months https://t.co/wxryujQOSX
— Sulome Anderson (@SulomeAnderson) March 17, 2018
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.