A lawyer for Donald Trump decided to go on the offensive while taking questions about the letter the president drafted with his reasons for firing former FBI Director James Comey.

Business Insider‘s Natasha Bertrand recently emailed White House special counsel Ty Cobb to ask some questions for a report about how the letter might impact Robert Mueller‘s investigation into Russia. As the two corresponded, Cobb complained about how Bertrand described the implications of Comey’s letter in her previous reporting, and Bertrand incorporated the counsel’s rebuttal into her follow-up article on the topic.

Here’s Cobb’s statement, via Business Insider:

“The White House willingly authorized the physical delivery of the ‘letter’ to the SC. Rabid though the press may be on the issue, the original memorandum of the President’s thoughts in letter form, the related Department of Justice analysis (which was first initiated before the President independently memorialized his thoughts), the subsequent conclusions of the Department of Justice, and the ultimate summary of each in the final termination letter are quite consistent and focus on the former Director’s usurpation of powers and other erratic and inexplicable conduct.”

Bertrand said she contacted Cobb later on with questions about certain inconsistencies between his statement and the known timeline of events surrounding Comey’s termination. Bertrand also asked questions about why Trump didn’t send the letter out, especially if the White House was true with their claim about minimal pushback to Comey’s firing within the Trump Administration.

Here’s the email Bertrand received in response.

Cobb’s complaints seem to revolve around Bertrand’s reporting in terms of how Trump’s letter could possibly factor into Mueller’s investigation as incriminating evidence. Bertrand, for her part, noted previous reporting that White House counsel Don McGahn managed to stop Trump before the president sent out his first letter to announce Comey’s ouster.

[Image via screengrab]

— —

>> Follow Ken Meyer (@KenMeyer91) on Twitter

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]