Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, introduces Republican presidential candidate and former Florida governor Jeb Bush during a presidential candidate forum at Regent University in Virginia Beach, on Oct. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
One of President Trump's personal lawyers called Tuesday for a special counsel to investigate alleged corruption at the FBI and Justice Department.
Jay Sekulow, a member of the legal team counseling Trump on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's wide-ranging Russia probe, said Tuesday that a second special counsel should be appointed to focus on FBI and Justice Department investigators.
Sekulow's call for a second special counsel was first reported Tuesday morning by Axios.
Sekulow did not allege wrongdoing on the part of Mueller or his team, telling The Washington Post that his call for a second special counsel has “nothing to do with Bob Mueller.”
But Sekulow argued that alleged conflicts of interest among FBI and Justice Department officials demand a full investigation by a special counsel. He singled out a Fox News report last week that Bruce G. Ohr, a senior Justice Department official, was demoted amid an investigation of his contacts with Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that commissioned a salacious dossier documenting Trump's ties to Russia.
“This is the kind of situation that, in my view, warrants a special counsel,” Sekulow said.
Asked whether he was speaking on Trump's behalf or whether the president agrees with having a second special counsel, Sekulow would not answer. He said he does not speak publicly about his conversations with the president.
“We’re just the president’s private lawyers,” Sekulow said.
Sekulow works alongside John M. Dowd, another private attorney for the president, and in close collaboration with Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer who handles the Russia portfolio.