Adjunct Professor Joel Cohen wrote an op-ed in The Hill about President Trump’s ongoing troubles.
Ty Cobb served as White House counsel before he and President Trump had a parting of ways, for reasons not completely clear. He certainly is a highly regarded attorney. The president, however, ideally would have wanted a more combative lawyer, with a style such as Rudy Giuliani’s, in dealing with special counsel Robert Mueller. However, Cobb clearly intended to act in the best interests of his client by urging full cooperation with the Russia investigation on the part of the White House and Trump.
After all, if your client tells you that he’s done nothing wrong, and you believe it based on your review of the facts, full cooperation typically is the fastest way toward full exoneration. And bear in mind, this assumes that Trump shared privately with Cobb his unyielding mantra: “There was no collusion.”
…
Actually, engaging a conscientious white-shoe lawyer such as Cobb to counsel full cooperation in a very public investigation could go a long way toward helping persuade the public that counsel would only encourage full cooperation if the president had nothing to hide.In any case, Cobb was the paradigm of loyalty throughout his representation of the president, publicly expressing, in his quiet, dignified way, the party line of “let’s get to the finish line as fast as possible.” That way, the president could go forward and pursue his agenda. Still, throughout the period of Cobb’s representation — and, more importantly, thereafter — hardly a week has gone by without the president “defending” himself publicly, arguing that he is the victim of those out to “get” him.