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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCobb Reportedly Resigned Because He Was 'Uncomfortable' With Trump's 'Mudslinging' Mueller Tweets
by Joe DePaolo | 2:43 pm, May 2nd, 2018
he questions surrounding yet another sudden resignation in President Donald Trumps administration are beginning to be answered.
CNNs Jim Acosta reported Wednesday that White House Lawyer Ty Cobb decided to abruptly quit his post, in large part, because of the presidents Tweets bashing special counsel Robert Mueller. Citing a source familiar with Cobbs departure, Acosta said the discord between Trump and the White House lawyer had been bubbling up for some time.
He had been clashing with the president for weeks, over his posture towards the Mueller investigation, that he did not want to be quote of a mud slinging campaign that he was uncomfortable with the presidents tweets, Acosta said. And he did not want to go down this path of clashing with the special counsels office. None of that reported discontent, though, is being made public just yet. Speaking with Acosta, Cobb played the good soldier, and did not let on that hed been having any issues with Trump.
Ive done what I came to do in terms of managing the White House response to the special counsels requests, Cobb said. Im extremely grateful to the president and the Chief of Staff, John Kelly for the opportunity to serve my country.
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https://www.mediaite.com/online/cobb-reportedly-resigned-because-he-was-uncomfortable-with-trumps-mudslinging-mueller-tweets/
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)No way I'm working for that guy for more than a year or two.
Seriously, Mr. Cobb? Are you that fucking stupid, or do you think the American people are that fucking stupid? Either way, your bullshit story doesn't hold water. When do you suppose we'll find out that the real reason Cobb quit is because he wasn't getting paid, not some nonsense about mud-slinging?
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)He was a White House employee, not a personal attorney, so the government paid him. I don't think the tweets bothered him so much as Trump's unwillingness to continue cooperating and meet with Mueller.
redstatebluegirl
(12,265 posts)Nobody wants to work for this asshole.
rzemanfl
(29,556 posts)Last edited Wed May 2, 2018, 09:46 PM - Edit history (1)
Go to hell Cobb
ON EDIT-RACHEL SAYS HE ACTUALLY WAS ON THE WHITE HOUSE PAYROLL. So I guess he is technically correct. My bad. He is still an asshole though.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)As the only professional to which people have a Constitutional right, the mere fact that a lawyer represents a client is not some sort of reflection on that lawyer.
IMHO, it's unprofessional for Cobb to have gone this far and then jumped ship. Yeah, your client might be an idiot, but that's your client.
rzemanfl
(29,556 posts)Catastrophuck. He knows goddamned well who his idiot client was.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Every lawyer is, in the larger sense, serving the country, at least in the sense of upholding the laws and Constitution of the United States (inclusive of advocating how it should be interpreted, changed, etc.). Every lawyer representing a client is "serving the country".
What I find entirely objectionable is that if he has terminated the engagement, then he has no business publicly commenting on the engagement or the matter in which he was engaged. It is unprofessional for him to be making any comments about his previous client, a pending matter, etc.. That's self-serving. Self-serving attorneys, i.e. ones who advance their personal interests on the backs of their clients, are the ones who really get to me, regardless of who their clients may be.
At a certain point, we may very well be faced not only with Trump's Fifth Amendment rights and common law privileges, but he is stumbling his way into Sixth Amendment gold!
You WANT a criminal defendant or potential criminal defendant to have good and effective counsel. It is in everyone's interest for criminal defendants to have effective assistance of counsel. That is why providing effective counsel to criminal defendants IS serving the country's interests, because it is serving all of our interests to avoid Sixth Amendment issues with criminal convictions. You can't get solid prosecutions and convictions WITHOUT the defendant having effective counsel.
That's why taking on scummy clients - the ones with the worst problems - is an honorable thing for an attorney to do. It's also what is most annoying about the tendency of people to incorrectly impute to the attorney personally, the opinions, beliefs or behavior of the client.
But Cobb? Yeah, he's a royal asshole.
rzemanfl
(29,556 posts)I posted what I said. I lost faith a long time ago. Color me cynical. We can agree Cobb is an asshole.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)...nothing is without its flaws. But the general flow has been toward improvement in the system over all, even if it is two steps forward and one step back, and with fits and starts.
But, if you are going to say that you've lost faith in the system, then rooting that the Rule of Law will prevail is something of an empty exercise, no?
We may get important answers to questions just like "Can a president be indicted?". We may get to see an impeachment go full on to its final conclusion. We may get to see all manner of wondrous thing along the way.
But the goal is to see the Rule of Law prevail, so you can't just walk away from what the point was.
It's slow, it's tedious, it can be soul-crushing and utterly perverse. It is also better than many demonstrated alternatives, and contains the means for its own improvement.
The rest is just politics.
Cobb should walk away, for whatever reason he quit, and keep his mouth shut. The new guy should stay there no matter what, do the job, and do whatever is necessary to (a) avoid being party to further violation of the law, and (b) in the event that a problem of suborning perjury arises.
But when the shooting really starts, none of the lawyers should be allowed to quit without leave of court to do so.
rzemanfl
(29,556 posts)I don't view this situation as law or politics. It's a war by other means. The Russians would like nothing better than an impeachment battle, with some street fighting thrown in for good measure. Catastrophuck is Putin's willing or unwilling pawn or useful idiot.
rzemanfl
(29,556 posts)Poiuyt
(18,122 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)If you know you're going to get subpoenaed, why stick around and become complicit in more crimes?