Trump White House Loses Key Lawyer In Special Counsel's Russia Probe
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WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) - A key White House lawyer representing President Donald Trump is leaving.
The news comes as the president's legal team tries to hammer out details of a possible Trump interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.
On Wednesday Ty Cobb, the lawyer representing the president in Mueller's Russia probe, announced his retirement at the end of the month. Cobb told CBS News that the president is eager to speak with the special counsel.
"I think at the end of the day it's pretty clear that on the collusion side of allegations, that there is no quid pro quo between the Trump campaign and the Russians," said Cobb.
White House officials say Emmet Flood will join the White House legal team. The veteran lawyer advised former President Bill Clinton in his impeachment proceedings.
News of Cobb's retirement comes a day after one of the president's former lawyers told the Associated Press that mueller raised the idea of a subpoena during a meeting in early March to force the president to testify under oath.
In tweets Wednesday morning, Trump once again called the investigation a witch hunt, dismissed claims of collusion as a hoax, and obstruction of justice as a setup and trap.
There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax) and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup & trap). What there is is Negotiations going on with North Korea over Nuclear War, Negotiations going on with China over Trade Deficits, Negotiations on NAFTA, and much more. Witch Hunt!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2018
A subpoena has always been an option for the special counsel but to use it on a sitting president would be an extraordinary move. If Mueller indeed issued one, the president could fight it in court
Meantime, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller's investigation, pushed back against reports that Republican lawmakers were drafting articles of impeachment against him.
"I think they should understand by now the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted," he said.
Republican members of the House Freedom Caucus say impeachment would be used against Rosenstein as a last resort.
