Rep. Trey Gowdy said President Donald Trump's lawyers were doing him a "disservice" by keeping the focus of the Russia probe on claims of collusion by his campaign staff during the 2016 presidential election, The Hill reported Friday.
Despite the controversial Christopher Steele dossier, the South Carolina Republican maintained the investigation would still be taking place.
"I think his lawyers have done a disservice to him, frankly," Gowdy told CBS News' "The Takeout" podcast. "I think allowing it to be framed as an investigation into collusion and collusion only, conflating the Andy McCabe firing, conflating, frankly, the dossier. This investigation would exist without a dossier. And I've said that for the last 12 months. With or without a dossier, this investigation goes on."
Gowdy said the idea special counsel Robert Mueller "was hired to only go look for criminality," also did a "disservice" to the president. He suggested Trump continue to work with investigators, although he added he understood the president's "frustration."
"There's a certain level of frustration that comes from anyone who is, quote, under investigation," Gowdy said. "If you believe you've done nothing wrong, you want the investigation concluded as quickly as possible. It is beyond argument that this has cast a pall over the first part of his presidency."