UPDATE: Press Secretary Sanders has issued a longer statement noting the change in counsel.
New statement from Sarah Sanders: “Emmet Flood will be joining the White House Staff to represent the President and the administration against the Russia witch hunt. Ty Cobb, a friend of the President, who has done a terrific job, will be retiring at the end of the month.”
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) May 2, 2018
ORIGINAL POST
White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who has represented President Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, is retiring. He's expected to be replaced by Emmet T. Flood, who represented President Bill Clinton during his impeachment hearings.
Cobb reportedly informed White House Chief of Staff John Kelly of his retirement plans last week. He will retire at the end of the month.
“It has been an honor to serve the country in this capacity at the White House,” Cobb said. “I wish everybody well moving forward.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that Cobb had been discussing retirement for "several weeks."
Before Cobb announced retirement, he had reportedly butted heads with the White House counsel.
Behind the scenes, as Mr. Cobb rushed to turn over records to Mr. Mueller, his relationship soured with the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, who thought Mr. Cobb should have more thoroughly reviewed documents and been willing to assert executive privilege. Mr. Cobb in turn thought that Mr. McGahn’s early response to the investigation had been too slow, bringing the White House to the verge of a subpoena.
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Flood's take on the investigation is expected to be more "adversarial" than Cobb, the New York Times predicts.
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