President Trump on Thursday stood by his lawyer, Ty Cobb, and said he has agreed with the approach his legal team has taken with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe after former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said Trump has received poor advice from his lawyers.
“I have agreed with the historically cooperative, disciplined approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller (Unlike the Clintons!). I have full confidence in Ty Cobb, my Special Counsel, and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process,” Trump tweeted Thursday.
I have agreed with the historically cooperative, disciplined approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller (Unlike the Clintons!). I have full confidence in Ty Cobb, my Special Counsel, and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2018
The president appeared to be rejecting comments from Bannon, who was fired in August, made to the Washington Post about the Russia investigation. Bannon said Cobb, the White House lawyer overseeing the response to the Russia probe, should be fired “immediately” and said Trump should invoke executive privilege “immediately and retroactively.”
He also said it was a “strategic mistake to turn over everything without due process,” referring to the White House’s decision to send Mueller’s team thousands of documents.
Trump’s legal team has so far been cooperating with Mueller’s probe, and provided information to the special counsel’s office and allowed staff to meet with members of the special counsel’s team for interviews.
According to the Washington Post, Bannon has pitched a plan to West Wing aides and allies on Capitol Hill that includes firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and ending the White House’s cooperation with Mueller.
Bannon told the Washington Post that Trump “wasn’t fully brief by his lawyers on the implications” of not invoking executive privilege.
Trump has reportedly been considering firing Rosenstein after the office, home, and hotel room of Michael Cohen, his longtime personal lawyer, was raided by the FBI.
Federal prosecutors reportedly obtained a search warrant for Cohen’s office after receiving a referral from Mueller. Trump has fumed over the raid, which he called “disgraceful.”
