Ty Cobb (attorney)

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.

Ty Cobb
Born1950 (age 70–71)
Great Bend, Kansas, U.S.
EducationHarvard University (AB)
Georgetown University (JD)
Political partyIndependent[1]

Early life

Cobb is the son of Grover C. Cobb, a Kansas radio station owner who was senior executive vice-president of the National Association of Broadcasters (which named one of their prestigious awards for him).[3][4] Cobb's father was vice-president and general manager of KVGB (AM)/FM in Great Bend,[5] 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.[6] Cobb spent his childhood in rural Kansas.[4]

Cobb received his A.B. from Harvard University and his J.D. from Georgetown Law School.[7] While at Harvard, Cobb became close friends with Senator Al Franken.[8]

Career

Cobb served as a law clerk for a federal judge,[3] then 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.[9][10] In 1986, he joined the Baltimore law firm Miles and Stockbridge. Two years later, he joined Hogan & Hartson, which became Hogan Lovells.[7]

Cobb served as special trial counsel during an independent investigation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the 1990s.[11]

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.[9] He represented Democratic fundraiser John Huang against campaign finance charges. Huang pleaded guilty in 1999.[9] Other high-profile clients have included Eli Segal, Mary McCarthy, AIG, Office Depot, the House of Saud, IBM, and Medtronic.[12][11][7]

Cobb is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.[9]

Role in the Special Counsel investigation
See also: Special Counsel investigation (2017–present) and Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections

Cobb joined the White House to manage matters related to the ongoing investigations into Russian election interference, starting on July 31, 2017. Cobb was part of the White House internal legal team[13][14][15] and reported directly to President Trump.[11] 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."[4] Cobb was recommended to Trump by John Dowd, who was a member of his private legal team.[10]

Cobb said that there is no reason to believe that Trump is 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."[11]

On May 2, 2018, Cobb announced that he was retiring as White House special counsel at the end of the month.[16][17] 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."[19] He repeated that assessment in an ABC News interview on March 5, 2019, adding that he thinks Mueller is "an American hero".[20][21]

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."[22]

See also

References
  1. "Ty Cobb from The New Washington". podbay.
  2. Marbella, Jean (August 25, 2017). "Ty Cobb: The White House counsel launched his career in Baltimore". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  3. Bill Glose (May 2015). "The Kansas Peach". SuperLawyers.
  4. 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.
  5. "Kansas Association of Broadcasters History".
  6. Karen Freifeld & Steve Holland (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.
  7. Susan Schmidt (July 12, 1997). "Huang's Lawyer Earns Top Marks for Maneuvering". Washington Post.
  8. "Ty Cobb from The New Washington". podbay.
  9. Diaz, Daniella (July 15, 2017). "Who is White House special counsel Ty Cobb?". CNN. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  10. Johnson, Kevin; Jackson, David. "Ty Cobb, Donald Trump's newest Russia lawyer, adds legal muscle as investigations widen". USA Today. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  11. 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.
  12. "Ty Cobb, Partner, Washington, D.C." Hogan Lovells. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  13. Justin Fishel (July 14, 2017). "White House to hire attorney Ty Cobb to manage Russia investigation response". ABC News.
  14. Buncombe, Andrew (July 17, 2017). "Who is Ty Cobb? The top corruption lawyer just hired by Donald Trump". The Independent.
  15. Gloria Borger, Dana Bash, Pamela Brown & Jeremy Diamond (July 21, 2017). "Trump reshuffling legal team". CNN.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. Jackson, David (May 2, 2018). "Ty Cobb's departure means Donald Trump's legal team has almost completely turned over". USA Today. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  19. Merica, Dan. "Former White House lawyer: Mueller probe isn't a witch hunt". CNN. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  20. Smith, Allan (March 5, 2019). "Former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb calls Mueller 'American hero'". NBC News. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  21. Kyra Phillips, Katherine Faulders, Matthew Mosk, and John Santucci (March 5, 2019). "Former Trump White House lawyer calls Mueller 'American hero,' says probe is no witch hunt". abcnews.go.com. Retrieved March 5, 2019.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  22. Nicholas, Peter (December 18, 2020). "Was It Worth It?". The Atlantic.
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