President Donald Trump has been in talks with a veteran Washington lawyer who has lots of experience helping presidents engulfed in legal woes to possibly join his team. Emmet T. Flood, a partner at the firm Williams & Connolly who represented Bill Clinton during the impeachment proceedings, met with Trump last week to discuss the offer, according to a report that first appeared in the New York Times and was later confirmed by the Washington Post. Flood is seen as a highly respected lawyer inside Washington who worked in George W.

Bush’s White House and represented Vice President Dick Cheney.

Although no decision has been made and White House insiders deny that the move would represent an increased level of concern over the inquiry, it at least marks a recognition that special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe isn’t going away anytime soon. Ty Cobb, who is leading Trump’s response to the investigation, had often said Mueller’s probe was almost over, a prediction that has proven to be highly optimistic. Trump isn’t looking to replace Cobb, who has long told friends he sees his posting as temporary.

Apparently it isn’t just the position of White House counsel that could be attractive to Flood. Flood reportedly spoke with Trump about numerous potential positions at the White House, including the possibility of being associate attorney general, the Washington Post’s Robert Costa tweeted Sunday.

a bit of news: Emmet Flood is being considered for associate attorney general, per people familiar with the discussions. That possibility, along w/ potential WH posts, came up in convo w/ the president — Robert Costa (@costareports) March 11, 2018

Trump sharply pushed back against the story on Sunday, tweeting that it was “wrong” to say he was unhappy with the legal team. He went on to accuse the Times of publishing a story it knew was false and disparaged one of the reporters who wrote the story, Maggie Haberman, calling her a “Hillary flunky” who “knows nothing about me and is not given access.”

The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out. Wrong. I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job and..... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018

...have shown conclusively that there was no Collusion with Russia..just excuse for losing. The only Collusion was that done by the DNC, the Democrats and Crooked Hillary. The writer of the story, Maggie Haberman, a Hillary flunky, knows nothing about me and is not given access. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018

Haberman also took to Twitter to respond to Trump, first writing a simple “Lol” before going into more detail, noting several people confirmed the story. Plus she also noted other outlets confirmed the piece once it was published. Perhaps, Haberman said, Trump’s tweets raise the “possibility Flood has turned him down.”

Several people close to Trump confirmed our story. Trump also met with Emmet Flood in the Oval last week for purpose of potentially hiring him. Our story was confirmed by other outlets. https://t.co/UmnZMLogAf — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 11, 2018

....which raises possibility Flood has turned him down https://t.co/UmnZMLogAf — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 11, 2018

It wouldn’t be the first time. Flood had been interviewed over the summer about the possibility of joining the White House Counsel’s Office to help manage Mueller’s investigation but he declined. He was one of several Washington attorneys to decline the position.