The edited version released by the special prosecutor omits the following important words: “I’m sympathetic … I understand that you can’t join the joint defense; so that’s one thing. If, on the other hand, we have maybe a national security issue … some issue, we got to — we got to deal with, not only for the President, but for the country … without you having to give up any … confidential information.”
The Department of Justice claims that the full transcript is consistent with the overall incident. Dowd disagrees, pointing out that by “taking out half my words, they changed the tenor and the contents of that conversation with Robert Kelner… Isn’t it ironic that this man who kept indicting and prosecuting people for process crimes committed a false statement in his own report.”
Dowd has accused Mueller of seeking to “smear and damage the reputation of counsel and innocent people.” He stated that the special counsel “never raised or questioned the president’s counsel about these allegations despite numerous opportunities to do so.” Dowd, a highly respected and veteran D.C. lawyer, is rightly upset. When read in full, the transcript shows that he is not trying to obstruct the probe.
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