If you marveled over Donald Trump's attorneys Ty Cobb and John Dowd—two supposed Washington veterans—discussing internal legal rifts in the West Wing within ear shot of a New York Times reporter, it's a good time to recap just how incompetent Trump's bunch of misfits have repeatedly proven to be. First, take a gander at NYT reporter Ken Vogel's pic of Cobb lunching with Dowd a table away.
Apparently, Cobb's learned nothing from The Americans. Likewise, the guy Cobb was complaining about, White House counsel Don McGahn, hasn't figured out he's working among colleagues who leak like pricked helium balloons.
After The Times contacted the White House about the situation, Mr. McGahn privately erupted at Mr. Cobb, according to people informed about the confrontation who asked not to be named describing internal matters.
Wow, couldn't have seen that coming. But then again, as the Washington Post's Aaron Blake notes, Trump's attorneys haven’t proven to be the sharpest knives in the drawer. Here's excerpts of a list Blake assembled detailing the indiscretions of Trump's legal lackeys.
- Cobb asked a Business Insider reporter if she was “on drugs.”
- He later called the same reporter “insane” and mused about using a drone on her while unwittingly emailing with a prankster posing as a White House official.
- When he took the job, Cobb told Law.com that he had “rocks in my head and steel balls.” He added that he took the job because it was “an impossible task with a deadline.” (Side note: So defending Trump from the Russia investigation is an “impossible task,” you say?)
- Now-former Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz threatened a random stranger in an email exchange, telling her, “Watch your back, b‑‑‑‑.”
- Dowd rather strangely confirmed to The Post last week that the legal team had discussed whether Jared Kushner should exit the White House.
- [Trump's personal lawyer] Jay Sekulow denied twice that Trump was involved in Donald Trump Jr.'s initial response to that Russia meeting, only to be directly contradicted by the White House itself.
- Trump's colorful longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, responded to his contradictory denials about being involved with Russians with plenty of bluster. “I feel great,” he told HuffPost. “Which picture did The Wall Street Journal use of me? Was it good?” Cohen added: “I am in many respects just like the president. Nothing seems to rattle me, no matter how bad the hate.”
- Cohen regularly engages with critics and mixes it up on social media. Asked by Vanity Fair what that says, he responded: “It means I’m relevant.”
Cohen, by the way, is scheduled to testify to the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday. Though it's unclear whether the testimony will be public or private, with a little luck Cohen will spill the beans over lunch at a busy Washington eatery.