Former White House lawyer on Trump's expected surrender in Georgia: 'He won't enjoy it'
Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb on Friday said while former President Trump's expected surrender in Georgia next week likely won't rattle him, "he won't enjoy it."
Asked how the reputation of the jail in Fulton County, Ga., may affect Trump psychologically, Cobb suggested the impact would be miniscule.
"I do think it will have some, you know, some impact on him... He won't enjoy it," he told CNN anchor Erin Burnett. "But, you know, to the extent that it, it'll rattle him... I don't see that happening."
His comments come as multiple outlets reported that law enforcement officials in Georgia anticipate Trump will surrender by the end of next week. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis earlier this week set a deadline of noon on Friday, Aug. 25 for Trump — and 18 of his allies — to voluntarily surrender after an indictment charged the defendants for their alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state.
Following the news of the Georgia indictment — Trump's fourth one this year — the former president said he planned to hold a press conference next week to present new evidence of election fraud in the state. He claimed the report would completely exonerate him and his codefendants.
On Thursday, Trump walked back his plan, saying his lawyers wanted to compile the claims in the state into "formal legal filings" instead.
Cobb said the move was "inconsistent" with how he's handled his previous trials.
"It's inconsistent with the way he's maneuvered through these cases over the last couple of months. You know, he has constantly ignored, I think, good advice in terms of how to comport himself," he said. "You know, it could be a turning point."
"I think it may have come as a surprise to his attorneys, that he announced that, and I'm sure that they reacted immediately, as I did, you know, concerned that he could only complicated circumstances, if he proceeded that way," Cobb added.
The former president is also facing a federal indictment over his alleged efforts to interfere in the 2020 election. Justice Department (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith proposed a Jan. 26, 2024 trial date — but Trump's lawyers on Thursday asked for it to be pushed back to April 2026.
"That's nowhere ... within the neighborhood of the universe of possible dates," Cobb said in response. "I don't think that was a lawyer-decided date, I think that probably was a Trump-dictated date."
"I think this case, the election interference case, in particular, can easily be tried before the summer of 2024. And I think it will be," he added.