This is what Beltway politics has come to: John Dowd and Ty Cobb, two of Donald Trump's attorneys, eating lunch and talking about his case in voices loud enough for the New York Times reporter sitting nearby to hear everything they said.
Who does that?
On Morning Joe this morning, Mika Brzezinski said Ty Cobb was also heard talking about a White House lawyer he deemed "a McGahn spy." (Don McGahn is, of course, White House counsel.)
Cobb said McGahn had "a couple of documents locked in a safe that he seemed to suggest he wanted access to."
He also blamed a colleague for some of earlier leaks and "who he said tried to push jared out, meaning jared kushner. After the Times reached out about the overheard conversation, Chief of Staff John Kelly, reprimanded Cobb. What are we talking about here?" Brzezinski said.
Joe Scarborough marveled at the lack of discipline.
"I want to say the lack ... of any attorney that's practiced law for more than a week knows the lack of discipline shown by this group is staggering. I don't know any other client that, in similar circumstances, they had something like this happen, they would fire these attorneys immediately.
But Mark Halperin found the real nugget in the story.
"It's the highest profile case in America right now," Mark Halperin said.
"They're sitting in public, talking about it to each other in voices loud enough to be heard. There's one other detail in that story that I think is important, which says that White House officials believe their colleagues might be wearing wires for the independent counsel and trying to obtain more evidence within the White House."
"The thing is, as I have said to other staff members, not only this White House but other White Houses, I've reminded them that the president you're working for now will be gone. When you're gone you still have your reputation. These lawyers -- this will not be their last case, but this will stay with them, that they lack -- what CEO will ever trust Ty Cobb or these other guys who are sending out -- or Dowd?" Scarborough said.
