Trump’s legal team at a big disadvantage because they believed his denials in Russia probe: report

President Donald Trump's legal team is reportedly scrambling to figure out exactly what special counsel Robert Mueller knows about their client -- and they've been crippled, in part, by their willingness to believe Trump's claims that he's completely innocent.

According to the New York Times, former Trump lawyer John Dowd made a major tactical error when he "took Mr. Trump at his word that he had done nothing wrong and never conducted a full internal investigation to determine the president's true legal exposure."

Because of this, Trump's new legal team had to spend 20 hours interviewing the president about actions he's taken, which was something that Dowd never bothered doing.

Additionally, the Times reports that Mueller's team during Dowd's tenure interviewed 10 senior administration officials without first nailing down what these officials would be telling prosecutors.

Current Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani acknowledged that Dowd's strategy may have not been ideal given the current legal jeopardy the president faces.

"I think I would have done it differently," Giuliani said of Dowd's strategy. "But now we can work with the fact that there was such complete cooperation."