On Tuesday, Donald Trump’s former attorney Ty Cobb called special counsel Robert Mueller a “class act” and an “American hero,” and disavowed his old boss’s claims that the investigation is a “witch hunt,” Politico is reporting.
Speaking on Tuesday via ABC News ‘ The Investigation podcast, Cobb had nothing but praise for the man who is leading the long-running investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian agents during the 2016 election.
Specifically, Cobb pointed to Mueller’s war record during the Vietnam War, during which time he was wounded in action. Mueller received a Bronze Star with “V” device for combat valor, having rescuing a wounded Marine under enemy fire during an ambush, according to Princeton Alumni Weekly . Cobb said Mueller 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.”
He also said that he’s known Mueller for 30 years, according to The Hill .
“I think the world of Bob Mueller.”
As for the Russia probe that Mueller is leading, Cobb rejects his former boss’s claim that it’s a “witch hunt,” saying that he believes Mueller is a “justice-oriented person” — and that Mueller is interested only in getting to the truth and then getting his report to Congress. In fact, the only complaint Cobb has about the investigation is that it has gone on for too long. He noted that he wished that it would have wrapped up earlier, though he notes that the timetable of the investigation is no fault of Mueller’s.
Cobb’s effusive praise for Mueller stands in sharp contrast to the statements made by Trump himself, who has often been critical of Mueller — and the probe — in public comments and tweets.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Cobb spoke of his time in the Trump White House.
After decades in private practice, Cobb joined the White House legal team in July of 2017, serving until he retired in May of 2018.
During his time in the White House, Cobb claims that he worked as a sort of barrier between Trump — as well as other members of Trump’s legal team — and Mueller. Specifically, he says that he tried to convince the president and his team that caution and cooperation with the Mueller probe were the way to go. He further claims that once Trump attorney John Down posted a critical tweet about Mueller that Trump felt “unleashed.”