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Ty Cobb (attorney)

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Ty Cobb
Cobb at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2019
Born1950 (age 73–74)
Great Bend, Kansas, U.S.
EducationHarvard University (AB)
Georgetown University (JD)
Political partyIndependent[1]

Ty Cobb (born 1950) is an American lawyer. He was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland in 1981–86.[2] He has been a partner at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. From July 2017 until May 2018, he was a member of the Trump administration legal team, though he has never voted for Trump.[3][4]

Early life and education

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Cobb was born and grew up in Great Bend, Kansas.[5] He is the son of Grover C. Cobb, a radio station owner who was senior executive vice-president of the National Association of Broadcasters (which named one of their prestigious awards for him).[6][5] Cobb's father was vice-president and general manager of KVGB (AM)/FM in Great Bend,[7] and had a key role in forming the Kansas Association of Broadcasters.

Cobb reportedly is a distant relative of the Hall of Fame baseball player bearing the same name,[8] but the specific genealogy is not known.

Cobb received his A.B. from Harvard University and his J.D. from Georgetown Law School.[9] While at Harvard, Cobb became close friends with Senator Al Franken.[10]

Career

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Cobb served as a law clerk for a federal judge,[6] then became Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland in 1981-86 based in Baltimore[2] as chief of the criminal section and head of the region's drug enforcement and organized crime task force.[11][12] In 1986, he joined the Baltimore law firm Miles and Stockbridge. Two years later, he joined Hogan & Hartson, which became Hogan Lovells.[9]

Cobb served as special trial counsel during an independent investigation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the 1990s.[13]

Cobb successfully defended Hudson Foods against allegations that its executives lied to investigators after a recall of beef tainted with E. coli. The executives were acquitted on all charges.[11] He represented Democratic fundraiser John Huang against campaign finance charges. Huang pleaded guilty in 1999.[11] Other high-profile clients have included Eli Segal, Mary McCarthy, AIG, Office Depot, the House of Saud, IBM, and Medtronic.[9][13][14]

Cobb is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.[11]

Role in the Mueller special counsel investigation

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Cobb joined the White House to manage matters related to FBI Director Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, starting on July 31, 2017. Cobb was part of the White House internal legal team[15][16][17] and reported directly to President Donald Trump.[13] Cobb said that he accepted the White House assignment because "it was an impossible task with a deadline." He elaborated further that he had "rocks in his head and steel balls."[5] Cobb was recommended to Trump by John Dowd, who was a member of his private legal team.[12]

Cobb said there was no reason to believe that Trump was personally under investigation and that "They're in full cooperation mode and they've been directed to fully cooperate and get this over with as quickly as possible."[13]

On May 2, 2018, Cobb announced that he was retiring as White House special counsel at the end of the month.[18][19] He issued a statement that "it has been an honor to serve the country in this capacity at the White House. I wish everybody well moving forward."[18]

Cobb stated on October 22, 2018, that he did not think the Mueller investigation was a "witch hunt", as Trump repeatedly called it in the press.[20] He repeated that assessment in an ABC News interview on March 5, 2019, adding that he thought that Mueller was "an American hero".[21][22]

In December 2020, Cobb told Peter Nicholas of The Atlantic, "I believed then and now I worked for the country. I didn't really have any difficulty with that. People's reactions were frequently hostile when they found out what I was doing. How hypocritical is it to think that the Democrats deserve the best people and Republicans don't? I have served both. It's the same country."[23]

Later criticism of Trump

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Since leaving the White House, however, Cobb has criticized Trump, calling him "a disaster for the Republican Party"[24] and accusing him of "stifling truth."[25]

Cobb has also condemned Trump's repeated false claims that his loss in the 2020 presidential election was the result of voter fraud, as well as his attempts to overturn the election and his alleged involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Ty Cobb from The New Washington". podbay.
  2. ^ a b Marbella, Jean (August 25, 2017). "Ty Cobb: The White House counsel launched his career in Baltimore". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  3. ^ Vogt, Kara. “They renounced Trump. Will they get fellow conservatives to vote Biden?”, Washington Post (27 Feb 2024): “Despite serving in Trump’s White House, Cobb says he never voted for him.”
  4. ^ “Early Returns - Law and Politics with Jan Baran” (June 2, 2022) (36:40).
  5. ^ a b c McGhee, Tom (July 24, 2017). "Trump's new Denver lawyer says he has "rocks in his head and steel balls"". The Denver Post. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Glose, Bill (April 21, 2015). "The Kansas Peach". Washington DC Super Lawyers magazine. Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022.
  7. ^ "Kansas Association of Broadcasters History". Archived from the original on September 7, 2018. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  8. ^ Freifeld, Karen; Holland, Steve (July 14, 2017). "Lawyer Ty Cobb to join White House to handle Russia probes". Reuters. Cobb, who sports a handlebar mustache, is a distant relative of the famous early 20th century baseball player of the same name.
  9. ^ a b c Schmidt, Susan (July 12, 1997). "Huang's Lawyer Earns Top Marks for Maneuvering". The Washington Post.
  10. ^ "Ty Cobb from The New Washington". podbay.
  11. ^ a b c d Diaz, Daniella (July 15, 2017). "Who is White House special counsel Ty Cobb?". CNN. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  12. ^ a b Johnson, Kevin; Jackson, David (July 18, 2017). "Ty Cobb, Donald Trump's newest Russia lawyer, adds legal muscle as investigations widen". USA Today. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  13. ^ a b c d Polantz, Katelyn (July 24, 2017). "Trump Lawyer Cobb Describes Role, Says He Took Job With Rocks in My Head and Steel Balls". Daily Reports. Law.com. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  14. ^ "Ty Cobb, Partner, Washington, D.C." Hogan Lovells. Archived from the original on September 25, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  15. ^ Fishel, Justin (July 14, 2017). "White House to hire attorney Ty Cobb to manage Russia investigation response". ABC News.
  16. ^ Buncombe, Andrew (July 17, 2017). "Who is Ty Cobb? The top corruption lawyer just hired by Donald Trump". The Independent.
  17. ^ Borger, Gloria; Bash, Dana; Brown, Pamela; Diamond, Jeremy (July 21, 2017). "Trump reshuffling legal team". CNN.
  18. ^ a b Jackson, David (May 2, 2018). "Ty Cobb's departure from Donald Trump's legal team means almost complete turnover". USA Today. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  19. ^ Apuzzo, Matt; Schmidt, Michael S. (May 2, 2018). "Trump to Add Clinton Impeachment Lawyer Emmet Flood to Replace Ty Cobb". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  20. ^ Merica, Dan (October 22, 2018). "Former White House lawyer: Mueller probe isn't a witch hunt". CNN. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  21. ^ Smith, Allan (March 5, 2019). "Former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb calls Mueller 'American hero'". NBC News. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  22. ^ Phillips, Kyra; Faulders, Katherine; Mosk, Matthew; Santucci, John (March 5, 2019). "Former Trump White House lawyer calls Mueller 'American hero,' says probe is no witch hunt". ABC News. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  23. ^ Nicholas, Peter (December 18, 2020). "Was It Worth It?". The Atlantic.
  24. ^ Nicholas, Peter (July 14, 2022). "Former White House attorney Ty Cobb: 'Big Lie has been good only for Trump'". NBC News. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  25. ^ Arnsdorf, Isaac; Dawsey, Josh; Barrett, Devlin (November 5, 2023). "Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  26. ^ Mordowanec, Nick (May 19, 2023). "Ex-Trump White House Lawyer Predicts Bad News for Former President". Newsweek. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
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