Moustache Aficionado cover star Ty Cobb pulled the ripcord and departed President Trump's legal team in the Russia probe Wednesday. Cobb, who was the point man dealing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team, will be replaced by white-collar defense attorney Emmet Flood. This is a definitive signal that Trump's team must feature someone with an 1800s name at all times. You can expect Josiah Railroad to be added as spokesman sometime soon. Elijah Stump will serve as a paralegal. Cornelius Goldrush. OK, I'm done.

The move would seem to indicate Trump and his legal squad want to move away from Cobb's strategy of cooperating with the special counsel as much as possible. That might be because that strategy has done very little to slow or dent Mueller's probe, which has progressed to the point that the special counsel is seeking an interview with the president.

Ty Cobb Getty Images

Rudy Giuliani, a longtime Trump ally and former mayor of New York who joined Trump's legal team last week, indicated to The Washington Post that Cobb's departure was tied to a change in approach:

In an interview with The Post, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani — now serving as Trump’s lead personal attorney dealing with the special counsel — said the president did not force Cobb to leave. “It was just time for him to go, but he’s still going to be available to us,” Giuliani said.

He added that Jay Sekulow, another member of Trump’s legal team, “had the most to do with it."

“Jay felt that he needed someone that was more aggressive,” Giuliani said. “That’s not a criticism of Ty, but it’s just about how we’re going to do this.”

Apparently, the prospect of The Interview is top of mind. Mueller submitted a list of 49 questions to Trump's legal team for review as the two sides continue to negotiate the terms of the rendezvous. The questions were promptly leaked to the media. While The Leaker remains a mystery, Esquire's Charles P. Pierce made the safe assumption that the following Official Correspondence From The President was a clumsy attempt at spycraft:

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So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were “leaked” to the media. No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see...you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2018

Further indications Trump's team is sweating at the mental image of him across the table from the granite-nosed former FBI director could be found in the Post article:

Giuliani said the president and the White House need a “more aggressive” approach as the special counsel pressures Trump for a sit-down interview. He said that Trump’s legal team is going to push Mueller to demonstrate what evidence he has and limit his questions for the president.

“Some people have talked about a possible 12-hour interview,” he said, adding: “That’s not going to happen — I’ll tell you that. It’d be, max, two to three hours around a narrow set of questions.”

Flood served on Bill Clinton's team when he faced impeachment in the House of Representatives, and also apparently worked on behalf of Vice President Dick Cheney to prevent him from ever meeting a similar fate. He is also, if the Post's sources are anything to go on, a True Believer when it comes to Trump's take on the Russia probe:

Flood appears willing to take a more adversarial approach to the special counsel than Cobb, who advised Trump that cooperating with the probe would help bring it to a rapid conclusion.

Flood, left, speaks with a White House staffer at a Senate Judiciary Committee during the U.S. Attorney scandal in 2007. Getty Images

For his part, Flood “feels strongly that this whole investigation is essentially an attempt to undermine an election,” said a person familiar with his views who requested anonymity to describe private conversations. “He doesn’t like the idea of an independent counsel.” ...

... “You had the discovery phase, and now you’re entering the litigation phase,” said the person, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations. “Who do you want on your side if Mueller decides to subpoena the president? You want to have your wartime consigliere. Emmet is a quintessential wartime consigliere.”

You can file that last part under Mob Language Used in Reference to the President of the United States. It's not an empty cabinet, though consigliere is probably the most quotidian addition. The move is certainly in line with the general shift of the White House towards a war footing. Just take a look at this official correspondence from said White House:

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The Russia Witch Hunt is now the official regime line. Surely, things will get more diplomatic and dignified from here.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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