John Dowd

After 39 weeks and six days working for President Donald Trump, John Dowd figures he deserves a break.

“I think what I'm trying to do is just take it easy, and get some rest,” Dowd said after awaking from an afternoon nap on Tuesday, five days after quitting as the lead lawyer helping Trump navigate special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

“I'm not going to discuss why I resigned,” Dowd said. “It was very hard work. You had to pay attention every day.”

A former Marine Corps captain who retired from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld's partnership in 2015, Dowd joined the president's private legal team last June. By the time he left on March 22, he and Trump were reportedly clashing on strategy and on Trump's efforts to hire more attorneys.

(Dowd was back in the headlines again on Wednesday, after The New York Times cited anonymous sources to report that he had raised the idea of presidential pardons with lawyers for two of Mueller's targets, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort. Dowd told the Times the report was untrue.)

Now that he is no longer obliged to serve his embattled Oval Office client, Dowd, who is in his 70s, said he plans to enjoy his family and simply relax. He noted he has “done a lot of pro bono” in the past, but said he would take some before deciding how much lawyering is in his future.

When it comes to his feelings for the president, Dowd said: “I really do wish him well. I'm in his corner.” But he also expressed admiration for Mueller—even as others on Trump's legal team have taken pains to criticize the special counsel's investigation.

“I have said before and I'll say again: We had a terrific relationship with Mueller—the best that I can recall in my 50 years of practice. It was terrific, completely open, people trusted each other, and we had no misunderstandings,” Dowd said.

While he led the president's team, Dowd said, he was always the one to speak to Mueller on the telephone. “I expect Jay is doing that now,” Dowd said, referring to Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow.

Sekulow regularly accompanied him when he had meetings with Mueller's team, Dowd said.

As for the apparent turmoil on Trump's legal team leading up to and in the wake of his departure, Dowd demurred.

“I have exited the stage,” he said.

Read more: