Trump’s lawyer now claims he was the author of Trump’s self-incriminating tweet

In what’s either one of President Trump‘s close confidants choosing to offer himself up as a sacrificial lamb or an eye-opening revelation of who’s behind his Twitter account, ABC News is reporting that Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, is claiming to be the author of that explosive Trump tweet from this Saturday morning.

“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI,” Trump purportedly tweeted. “He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!”

From ABC News:

The apparent admission by the president — that he knew Flynn had lied to the FBI at the time of his firing — seems to add a potentially explosive new dimension to the ongoing special counsel investigation.

If true, why then would Trump ask the FBI director to go easy on Flynn, as former FBI Director James Comey later testified? The message set off renewed talk of potential evidence of obstruction of justice.

But now Dowd, corroborated by a second source familiar with the matter, said the tweet was not drafted by the president himself but rather by the lawyer — and done so in a “sloppy” manner.

Whether true or not, Dowd’s statement clouds the question of whether or not Trump knew that Michael Flynn had lied to the FBI at the time of his firing as national security adviser. In its report, ABC News acknowledges that Dowd’s claim, if true, could un-incriminate Trump.

According to The Washington Post, two sources close to the matter confirmed that Dowd was the tweet’s author. In an update to it’s original article the Post reported that “the tweet was authored by Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, according to two people familiar with the situation. The fact that Dowd authored the tweet could limit its salience to the investigation, but the White House still hasn’t publicly corrected anything.”

Not surprisingly, many weren’t buying the story:

According to one commenter, even if Dowd wrote the tweet, “Trump would have surely seen, and if he didn’t rescind it, he’s still guilty of agreeing with the fact. No difference than his writing it.”

Update: Doubts about whether or not Dowd is telling the truth are beginning to grow:

Featured image via screen grab (YouTube)

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.