Former White House lawyer said Trump acted like a "mob boss" and ordered staff to obstruct evidence

The allegations could tack on witness tampering to Trump's current charges of mishandling classified documents

By Gabriella Ferrigine

Staff Writer

Published September 20, 2023 2:43PM (EDT)

Lawyer Ty Cobb before the House Governmental Reform Committee in Washington, DC, December 15, 1999. (Karin Cooper/Liaison Agency)
Lawyer Ty Cobb before the House Governmental Reform Committee in Washington, DC, December 15, 1999. (Karin Cooper/Liaison Agency)

Former Trump-era White House lawyer Ty Cobb claimed during a recent CNN interview that Donald Trump told his staff to commit obstruction.

Asked by anchor Erin Burnett on Tuesday for his thoughts on Trump reportedly telling his assistant, Molly Michael, "You don't know anything about the boxes" in regards to troves of classified documents stowed at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Cobb, concluded that Trump's alleged orders may be evidence of witness tampering, in addition to mishandling documents. 

"I hear Trump — really, for the first time in terms of the way this evidence has rolled out — speaking in the terms of a mob boss, giving a direct order to somebody that he probably should have no reason to believe would lie for him, but expecting [Michael] to do so," Cobb said. "There's a difference between loyalty and breaking the law, and that's not a line she was going to cross. So it really is Trump directly ordering obstruction, and that will certainly be helpful to enhance the credibility of others who will testify about the obstruction."