Biglaw, Politics

Ty Cobb's Hilarious Emails And What They Say About Biglaw

Cobb may be an "adult," but he doesn't understand email basics.

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Ty Cobb

OMG — you guys… Ty Cobb, the former Hogan and Lovells partner who left the firm to join Donald Trump’s legal defense team, is embroiled in an hilarious email scandal. As first reported by Business Insider, Cobb decided to engage in an email exchange with noted troll and ramen shop owner Jeff Jetton.

Jetton emailed Cobb at his White House email address to express his… displeasure at the lawyers representing Trump. To be fair, Jetton’s emails are vulgar and crude, including tidbits like, “Have fun choking Trump’s nutsack.” And, “I wish you nothing but joy when his hairy testicles get caught up in your throat.”  A delight, really. But Cobb decided to respond, at least to the non-dick sucking parts.

Included in the exchange are real concerns about the current political landscape:

“I’m probably going to lose access to affordable healthcare, Ty,” Jetton wrote, adding that Trump is “screwing everyday Americans” and that “I don’t have to tell you that, it’s right there slapping you across the face.”

To which Cobb responded:

Dude U have no idea! I walked away from $4 million annually to do this, had to sell my entire retirement account for major capital losses and lost a s—load to try to protect the third pillar of democracy. Your hate I will never understand as an American. Hope you get help!

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Suuuuuure. Losing access to affordable life saving medical care is basically the same as voluntarily leaving a job making millions of dollars (especially when you know you can likely come back to that job or another similar one whenever you want). Yup, those two things are exactly equivalent. Trump has made it a habit to hire millionaires, but the out of touch aura they bring to the table is a slap in the face to the populist vibe Trump has worked so hard to cultivate. Words like this should be (even though they probably won’t be) a wake-up call to working-class voters who ignored the racism of Trump’s campaign because he understood their plight.

Jetton’s emails also pressed Cobb on how he can justify working for such a flawed politician. Cobb’s responses to that are revealing:

Can say assertively the more adults in the room will be better. Me and Kelly among others. Over and out

I’m sure that will go over real well in the viper pit that is the West Wing.

Cobb also made an appeal to a foundation of the legal profession — that everyone deserves a defense:

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All deserve a defense. Particularly with phony allegations and fake news. I am on’t be here for long but will be I my piece against bullshit Russian bullshit that hurts us now and is totally political limiting Russian cooperation against NK. This shit is real and real time. Got to go: Best, Ty

At its root this is just a platitude, one used as a defense when the details are too overwhelming. And given that said client has promised to defund Legal Aid, the government program that is designed to ensure that everyone actually does have adequate access to legal counsel, it isn’t as much a steadfast guiding principle for Cobb as much as a convenient excuse.

All of this translates into a proper scandal, and as such, Cobb sent a statement about the incident to Mother Jones:

I was trying to turn someone who appeared angry into a friend. And privately. My bad. This was what I believed to be a private conversation. There are many pros and talented people in the White House. I am proud to be there. It was not for public consumption but it appears I was catfished.

Um. No, you were not catfished. This is clearly some old guy trying to use a term they heard on the TVs without understanding what it means. Key to the catfish conceit is there is some false, fictional persona used to draw an unsuspecting person into a relationship. This is not that. From the emails Jetton sent to Cobb he is clearly a pissed-off American eager to share his displeasure at the Trump administration — hell, Cobb’s own statement about the incident references Jetton’s anger at politics. So Cobb knew exactly who he was emailing.

Also, “This was what I believed to be a private conversation.” …. Why exactly did you think that? Because you wished it so? COME ON DUDE. You were using your official White House email address!  AND you’re a litigator. Surely you’ve seen cases turn on something imprudently said over email. Maybe Cobb is too old to have reviewed thousands of emails himself in cases, but he must have seen “hot doc” binders filled with emails the sender wished in retrospect had been kept private. Plus, the exact same thing happened to Marc Kasowitz, another Biglaw partner pulled into Trump’s defense team, when he responded to random haters over email and his responses went public.

Cobb should have known better. Biglaw should have taught him that. But I’m sure the president’s reaction when he learns of the publicity Cobb is getting for calling himself and Kelly the “adults in the room” will be punishment enough.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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