Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling is not a witch hunt, former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb told ABC News' podcast The Investigation on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russia probe as a politically motivated hoax.
“I don't feel the same way about Mueller,” Cobb said. “I don't feel the investigation is a witch hunt.”
Cobb added that “I think Bob Mueller's an American hero… he has a backbone of steel. He walked into a firefight in Vietnam to pull out one of his injured colleagues and was appropriately honored for that… I think the world of Bob Mueller. He is a very deliberate guy. But he's also a class act. And a very justice-oriented person.”
He also said he “never had a bad interaction with Mueller or his staff.”
Cobb said he often endorsed a different strategy than more combative lawyers on Trump’s team and often clashed with them over legal strategy, advocating dignified cooperation with Mueller’s team.
Those differing strategies eventually drove a wedge between Cobb on one side and Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, among others, as the president decided on a more combative approach. Cobb left the White House after ten months.
Cobb said he does not think the Mueller report will cause Trump any serious political harm.
He bases this on the fact that the indictment against the Russian hackers was “highly detailed. And there's no link to Trump or the campaign. The same thing with [Trump campaign chairman Paul] Manafort - they just filed an 800-page sentencing memorandum, and in 800 pages there's no reference to collusion.”