DUBAI: White House special counsel Ty Cobb asked a journalist if she was on drugs during an e-mail exchange about an analysis piece she wrote on the firing of former FBI director James Comey.
Cobb asked Business Insider’s Natasha Bertrand the bizarre question in an exchange regarding an article she wrote Saturday about a letter that President Donald Trump reportedly wrote to dire Comey. According to her article, White House counsel Don McGahn advised against sending the letter and the journalist now believes the letter can be used as evidence in the supposed obstruction of justice case special counsel Robert Mueller is reported to be building against Trump.
For his part, Cobb refused to answer why the letter was never sent directly to the former FBI director.
After Bertrand send follow up questions to Cobb, he replied: “Are you on drugs? Have you read anything else on this???”
Bertrand posted the e-mail exchange to Twitter on Sunday.
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) September 3, 2017
“Cobb supposedly has a great reputation and is a very respected lawyer,” Bertrand told The Huffington Post. “He was brought in to bring some discipline to the whole operation. So I wasn’t expecting that response to what I thought was a pretty basic question.”
Bertrand then responded to Cobb, assuring him that she was not on drugs, reportedly saying: “No I’m not on drugs. But you’re not giving me much to work with. I’ve asked several times for an explanation of what in the story (which is an analysis piece, in any case) is false.”
