With Ty Cobb's departure, Trump's legal shuffle continues

With White House lawyer Ty Cobb announcing he plans to retire at the end of the month, so begins another round of shakeups.

Cobb was part of the round two team – that took over in the summer of 2017 when the president and his closest advisors realized a need to add some lawyers with inside Washington knowledge to the team. Outside the White House, Jay Sekulow and John Dowd were put in charge of handling the president’s personal legal matters related to the Russia probe.Dowd abruptly resigned earlier this year, and Cobb plans to depart at the end of the month.

“I’ve been working with the personnel people on a retirement date and we settled on the end of this month,” Cobb told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl during an interview on Wednesday.

Cobb had negotiated with the special counsel’s team for dozens of current and former White House staffers to meet with the Special Counsel for interviews, some even having to appear multiple times like White House Counsel Don McGahn. Cobb was also in charge of collecting all documents the Special Counsel had requested and turning them over to that team. “Almost everything I was brought on to do has been accomplished in terms of witnesses being interviewed and documents being produced it’s a reasonable time for me to go,” Cobb told Karl.

The investigation has been going on for nearly a year since Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller to lead the probe.

“The President wants to get this behind him, so he can keep the country safe,” Cobb said referring to the investigation. “I think cooperation was the path. I hope that they are able to work something out and happy to have contributed to that.”

Sources close to Cobb tell ABC News, the attorney has grown uncomfortable in recent weeks with the President tweeting about the Russia investigation particularly those specifically calling out Robert Mueller and his team. As ABC News has previously reported, the President’s legal team and his closest advisors have warned the President for months to avoid mentioning the Special Counsel in his tweets.

Now enter Emmet Flood, the former impeachment attorney for President Bill Clinton. Flood met with the President earlier this year about potentially joining the team. Despite the president saying after that meeting that no changes to his legal team makeup were coming, things have now changed.

“Emmet Flood will be joining the White House Staff to represent the President and the administration against the Russia witch hunt. Ty Cobb, a friend of the President, who has done a terrific job, will be retiring at the end of the month,” Sarah Sanders

Cobb tells ABC News he has one piece of advice for his successor: Do the next right thing.

The Powerhouse Politics podcast – hosted by ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl and Political Director Rick Klein – features headliner interviews and in-depth looks at the people and events shaping politics. Listen for FREE on the ABC News app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music -- or ask Alexa: “Play the ‘Powerhouse Politics’ podcast.”