Meet Trump's new lawyer in the Russia investigation, a DC power player who battled against Bill Clinton's impeachment
- Attorney Emmet Flood, who will be replacing Ty Cobb on President Donald Trump's legal team in the Russia investigation, is experienced working with presidents in legal trouble.
- Flood has previously worked with and represented former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
Attorney Emmet Flood, who will be replacing Ty Cobb on President Donald Trump's legal team in the Russia investigation, is experienced working with presidents in legal trouble.
The veteran Washington lawyer first represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment saga in the 1990s. He advised Clinton as impeachment proceedings were brought by the House and tried before the Senate.
While he did not have a prominent role on Clinton's legal team, Flood was the lead lawyer for President George W. Bush in the White House Counsel's Office. Flood specifically dealt with congressional investigations into the White House.
Flood is expected to take a more aggressive position on the Russian investigation and is popular in conservative legal circles, according to The New York Times. His adversarial approach to Congress and an independent counsel during the Clinton impeachment case could be an indication of how he will handle special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling.
Flood reportedly has a pessimistic viewpoint towards special counsel investigations and has expressed concern with the scope of Mueller's investigation, according to the Times. Both Trump and several House Republicans have shared the same opinion about Mueller's authority.
Flood has represented former Vice President Dick Cheney in private practice, most notably in the Valerie Plame case. Plame, a former CIA employee, brought a civil suit against Cheney and other senior Bush administration officials for their alleged role in Plame's covert CIA identity becoming public to the media.
It led to a criminal investigation and to the conviction of Lewis "Scooter" Libby for lying to federal prosecutors. Trump recently pardoned Libby, who was an adviser to Cheney.
He also advised former Virginia Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell in his corruption case and Cameron International after the Deepwater Horizon spill.
His close relationship with White House counsel Don McGahn, who led the charge to bring in Flood, may help Flood have more success than his predecessors on Trump's legal team. Flood is also rumored to be an eventual replacement to McGahn as White House counsel, according to The Times.
Flood, who is a partner at the law firm Williams & Connelly, received his law degree from Yale University. His firm specializes in trial work with high-profile cases, including former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when the FBI investigated her use of a private email server.
While it is reportedly unclear at this point why Flood is joining Trump's legal team, Flood refused to join last summer when the president's personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz was overseeing the president's case with the special counsel, according to The Times.