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Ty Cobb prepares to leave the White House; Israel’s parliament gives Netanyahu expanded war powers.
Ty Cobb and his “steel balls” exit the White House
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- White House lawyer Ty Cobb is off President Trump’s legal team. [Vox / Jen Kirby and Emily Stewart]
- Cobb, known for his amazing handlebar mustache and his reputation for having loud conversations in airports and steakhouses, went public with his retirement announcement today. [NYT / Matt Apuzzo and Michael Schmidt]
- Trump has a lot of lawyers, but Cobb was the main White House lawyer working on the response to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. [CNN / Jeff Zeleny, Kaitlan Collins, Eli Watkins, and Jim Acosta]
- Cobb’s likely replacement is an attorney named Emmet Flood. Flood is a fairly big deal and a respected entity: He represented Bill Clinton during Clinton’s impeachment proceedings and served as White House counsel for the Bush administration. [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]
- In other words, Mueller is facing off against someone who is more his speed. So get ready for the Mueller/Flood battle of the ages. [Norm Eisen via Twitter]
- Rudy Giuliani, who is now serving as Trump’s personal attorney, said Trump’s legal team wanted someone more aggressive and dogged than Cobb representing the president. [Washington Post / Robert Costa, Josh Dawsey, Rosalind S. Helderman, and Philip Rucker]
- So au revoir, Ty Cobb, the man who once told reporter Katelyn Polantz, “I have rocks in my head and steel balls.” [National Law Journal / Katelyn Polantz]
The Israeli parliament just expanded Netanyahu’s war powers
- Israel’s parliament just voted to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vastly expanded powers to declare war. [Jerusalem Post / Gil Hoffman]
- The Knesset, Israel’s legislative body, recently passed a law that gives the power to declare war to just two people in Israeli government: the prime minister and the defense minister. [NYT / Isabel Kershner]
- That has spurred an outcry from some in the government and parliament, who say it’s giving Netanyahu too much power during a precarious time for national security. Previously, prime ministers had to get the approval of the full cabinet before declaring war. [Haaretz]
- This is all happening during a tense time in Israeli politics; Netanyahu recently accused Iran of violating the terms of its nuclear deal by hiding nuclear weapons. The two countries are enemies, and there’s fear a shadow war could escalate. [Guardian / Oliver Holmes and Julian Borger]
Miscellaneous
- Vogue magazine has been around since the end of the 1800s and still has “fashion bible” status. But is it still relevant? [Racked / Eliza Brooke]
- If you love to “steal” those tiny shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels, you might want to start stocking up. Many hotels are doing away with them. [WSJ / Scott McCartney]
- America’s rural food crisis could be about to get way worse. Thank the farm bill. [Atlantic / Vann R. Newkirk II]
- There was a lot of confusion on Twitter today on whether Kanye West was, in fact, going to appear on Alex Jones’s trash fire Infowars broadcast. The confusion was itself a trash fire. [Olivia Nuzzi via Twitter]
Verbatim
“Oh, you’re a reporter? Well, go back and report on how your toilet bowl works.” [Trump doctor Harold Bornstein to Associated Press / Jonathan Lemire]
Watch this: This anti-sex trafficking law could end internet freedom
The law impacts sites like Reddit, Craigslist, and Google — and that’s just the start. [YouTube / Danush Parvaneh]
Read more
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