Ty Cobb, one of President Trump’s attorneys, will retire from his work on the president’s legal team at the end of the month.
“For several weeks Ty Cobb has been discussing his retirement and last week he let Chief of Staff Kelly know he would retire at the end of this month,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Wednesday.
He is expected to be replaced by Emmet Flood, who represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings, the New York Times reported.
Earlier in the day, Cobb told ABC News an interview between Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller is “not off the table.”
[Related: Rudy Giuliani met with Robert Mueller’s team, says Trump interview still possible]
In an interview with ABC News on the “Powerhouse Politics” podcast, Cobb said the president’s legal team is working to agree to terms for a presidential interview with Mueller, who is overseeing the investigation into Russian meddling.
“It’s certainly not off the table and people are working hard to make decisions and work towards an interview,” Cobb said. “And assuming that can be concluded favorably, there’ll be an interview.
“Assuming it can’t be … assuming an agreement can’t be reached, you know then it’ll go a different route.”
Trump has said he is open to sitting down with Mueller for an interview, but sources told ABC News his willingness to do so changed after the FBI raided the home, office, and hotel room of Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer.
Following the raids, the president added former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to his legal team, joining Cobb and Jay Sekulow.
Giuliani told the Washington Post at the time he wanted to “negotiate an end” to Mueller’s probe. He also has reportedly reopened negotiations for an interview between Trump and the special counsel.
Mueller has given Trump’s lawyers an extensive list of questions he wants to ask the president during a prospective interview. The list contains at least four dozen questions, some of which relate to former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former FBI Director James Comey, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as well as possible collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia.
