President Trump's White House legal team went through a shakeup this afternoon as Ty Cobb announced his retirement, opening the door for his replacement, Emmett Flood, a partner at Williams & Connolly.
Why he matters: Flood is likely to get buzz because he was part of President Clinton's legal team during his impeachment proceedings — though he didn't play a prominent role, per the NYT.
Be smart, per the NYT: "Mr. Flood is expected to take a more adversarial approach to the investigation than Mr. Cobb, who had pushed Mr. Trump to strike a cooperative tone."
His other achievements:
- Flood attended Yale Law and was a clerk for Antonin Scalia at the Supreme Court.
- He was head of the White House Counsel's Office for two years under President George W. Bush, specializing in the administration's response to congressional investigations.
- He represented President George W. Bush after his term in office in issues relating to executive privilege.
- He also personally represented Vice President Dick Cheney in Valerie Plame's civil case against Bush administration senior officials.
- Flood's firm represented Hillary Clinton during her email scandal, which was considered to be one of the reasons that he had turned down a White House job earlier this year, per Reuters.
