Trump hires Clinton impeachment lawyer

White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who is dealing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Russia, is leaving his position and being replaced by Emmet Flood, the attorney who represented former president Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings.


Cobb's exit would be the latest in a string of top White House departures, including from the president's legal team as Trump wants his lawyers to adopt an aggressive stance to counter the ongoing special counsel investigation.


"Emmet Flood will be joining the White House staff to represent the president and the administration against the Russia witch hunt," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. Veteran Washington lawyer Flood represented Clinton during his 1998-99 impeachment proceedings.


Referring to Ty Cobb as "a friend of the president" who has done a "terrific job", Sanders said the attorney will be retiring at the end of the month.  Cobb had been one of the Trump lawyers pushing the president to cooperate with Mueller, amid an internal debate over whether or not the US President should agree to be interviewed by the special counsel. The news was first reported by The New York Times. -- PTI