Situation room. Tonight, dramatic new turnover in the president s legal team as mr. Trump and the special Counsel Robert Mueller may be headed for an ugly highstakes showdown. The Top White House lawyer is calling it quits and an attorney who represented m eed president clinton during the impeachment process is being hired. Ill get reaction from leon panetta, the former defense secretary to president obama, former chief of staff to president clinton. And our correspondents and analysts are also standing by. First, lets go to our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta. Jim, this is another sign the Trump Legal Team is getting more combative. Reporter thats right, wolf. President trumps legal team is changing again. This time, its white house lawyer, ty cobb, who is stepping down. He had advocated caution on the trumps legal team, but a source tells cnn that cobb was clashing with the president over his attacks on the special counsels investigation. It could be the most ominous departure on the Trump Legal Team yet. Ty cobb, the white house lawyer who had counseled the president for months to stop attacking special Counsel Robert Mueller is out. Cobb told cnn, ive done what i came to do in terms of managing the white house response to the special counsels requests. Im extremely grateful to the president and chief of staff john kelly for the opportunity to serve my country. But a source familiar with cobbs departure tells cnn, the white house lawyer was uncomfortable with the president s tweets hammering mueller and wanted no part of a mudslinging campaign, making it clear he cant go down that path. Replacing cobb, attorney emmett flood, who joins a legal team that has changed dramatically in recent weeks, adding former mayor Rudy Giuliani and losing both cobb and outside attorney, john dowd. Flood had worked on the legal team defending former president president clinton against impeachment. It depends upon which the meaning of the word is is. Democrats are pouncing on the latest chaos in trump world. Nobody can stay around donald trump long who has a conscious and who has character and who believes in ethics. I think thats probably why dowd left. Thats why ty cobb left. And thats why mr. Floods time is limited. Reporter the president s legal tweets on the Mueller Probe is a sign his legal team is getting more aggressive, hinting he could shut down the investigation, mr. Trump tweeted, at some point, i will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the presidency and get involved. The president is escalating his attacks on the Justice Department after mueller warned earlier this year he may subpoena mr. Trump to force his testimony. Democrats argue a subpoena might be necessary. Do i want to see it . No. But if its necessary, it must be done. What would make it necessary . If he refuses to answer questions that the special counsel deems necessary to be answered. Reporter Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein who oversees the Mueller Probe told cnns Laura Jarrett his investigators are not backing down. There are people who have been making threats, privately and publicly, against me, for quite some time. And i think they should understand by now that the department of justice is not going to be extorted. Reporter that puts even more pressure on a president who has told reporters repeatedly he wants to cooperate with muellers team. Mr. President , would you still like to testify to special Counsel Robert Mueller, sir . Thank you. I would like to. You would do it under oath . Oh, i would do it under oath. Do you think Robert Mueller will be fair to you in this larger investigation . Were going to find out. Because heres what well say, and everybody says, no collusion. Theres no collusion. Now, this latest turmoil comes after the president tweeted just last month that he was happy with his legal team, calling ty cobb, quote, his special counsel. All the indications now are pointing to the president s legal team becoming much more combative in dealing with the russia investigation, as one source told cnn, playing nice hasnt gotten them anywhere. And wolf, there could be more changes coming to the president s legal team, as one source familiar with the discussions inside the white house told me earlier today, t emmet t. Flood could end up replacing the White House Counsel Don Mcgahn and that could happen in the coming months. Wolf . Lets bring in our justice correspondent, evan perez. What might these changes in trumps legal team might suggest . I think it suggests that the president is getting ready to do battle with the special counsel, wolf. I think the idea that theyve brought up that theyve suggested going the route of doing a subpoena, if they cannot come to an agreement with the president to do a voluntary interview, i think, shows you where this is going. Ty cobb was the last person in the president s team who was advocating for some kind of a deal. Some kind of an agreement, a cooperative stance with the special counsel. John dowd, who initially began on that side, by the time he left, had now moved over to the point where he believed that it was not a good to have the president sit down for a voluntary interview. And so now you have people who are looking at this and thinking that this is not a very good idea. And the special counsel may then have to do a subpoena. And then well see whether or not theres going to be a legal fight. Well, Rudy Giuliani is now one of his lead lawyers. The former new york mayor. He told the Washington Post today that if the president were to talk to mueller and his investigators, it would be a max, he said, of two to three hours, and would be restricted to certain questions. Is mueller likely to agree to those kind of terms . Its very interesting that this is the way their going about this, which is almost negotiating through the press. Look, i think if youre mueller, you need to have the president speak to the special counsel, before this is over. And so, if youre going to have to go through litigation, go all the way to the Supreme Court over a subpoena, thats not going to serve anybodys interests. So i think its very possible what will happen here is that, you know, people will theyll line up, again, theyll do battle. And then right before you get to a court decision, the two sides will find a way to come to an agreement. Maybe rudy is right. Maybe rudy will find a way to convince mueller to accept a limited interview, perhaps a couple of hours, not something that will last all day. Maybe have his lawyers in the room, which is not done, normally, under a grand jury. There are all kinds of ways you can come to some kind of terms to allow for this to go forward. Mueller clearly wants to show respect for the president , but there are limits to how far thats going to last. Thanks very much for that. Joining us now, leon panetta, he serves as the defense secretary and cia director during the obama administration. He was also the white house chief of staff during the blk administration. Mr. Secretary, thanks so much for joining us. Nice to be with you, wolf. All right. So were seeing some of the negotiations between Robert Mueller and the president s team play out in public, as we just reported. Where do you see all of this heading . Well, thats the big question of the moment. It clearly is crunch time with regards to the Mueller Investigation. I think theyve reached a point where, very frankly, theyre not going to be able to conclude this investigation without the testimony of the president of the United States. And at the same time, it would seem that if the president says that hes done nothing wrong, theres no collusion, then you would think that the ability to kind of speak the truth would make it easy for him to sit down and answer the questions of the special prosecutor. On the other hand, if that is a problem, then his legal team is going to continue to put up a confrontation and challenge the approaches of the special prosecutor, but ultimately, theyre playing a losing game. Because i think the courts will uphold the bright of this special prosecutor to get this kind of very important testimony. Is the departure, the quitting by ty cobb, as one of the president s lawyers, a sign that the president s strategy in dealing with the Mueller Investigation is about to get a whole lot more aggressive . That, too, is the question of the moment. Because emmet flood is a skilled lawyer and someone who i believe kind of respects the way the law is supposed to be enforced here. So, if youre expecting to get a skilled lawyer on a team thats going to fight every step of the way and basically try to confront the special prosecutor and challenge him, the way the president s been trying to do through his tweets, i just think that that, too, is is just a strategy thats going to lead to nowhere. Its basically going to lead to the courts trying to enforce what we all know has to take place here. One way or another, if the president wants this investigation to come to an end, its only going to come to an end when the president testifies to the special prosecutor. Thats the reality, and he can change lawyer every other day, but that reality remains the same. Quick question on emmet flood, the new lawyer coming into the white house to work with the president on all of this. He did serve during the bill clinton impeachment process. He was a relatively Junior Lawyer at that time. Did you know him . What ycan you tell us about him . I was not familiar with him, largely because i wasnt in washington at the time. But i do know through others that emmet flood is a skilled lawyer and somebody who is well respected in legal circles. So, you know, it will be interesting to see how this new lawyer added to this team with Rudy Giuliani and others, what kind of strategy are they ultimately going to agree to in order to try to bring this investigation and this prosecution to a conclusion . How much risk is involved for Robert Mueller, the special counsel, if he were to decide to subpoena the president . I think bobl mueller, being the kind of professional prosecutor that he is knows that in the end pb he cannot come to any conclusion unless he has the testimony of the president of the United States. I think hell knowing bob mueller, that hell try to do Everything Possible to work with the president s legal team, to see whether or not there is an froe approach that would be acceptable to them that would allow for the president to do this through some kind of agreement. Hell exhaust that effort. But if in the end they block him every step of the way, then theres no question in my mind that he will seek a subpoena. And that the courts will uphold his right to seek that subpoena. What are the implications, if the president were to get a subpoena, but he would still refuse to testify, to answer questions, and cite his right under the fifth amendment . Well, again, i think i think the president , for his own credibility purposes, having said that he in the past, that hes more than willing to sit down with a special prosecutor, that if theres a decision here to block his team every step of the way, whether its through opposing a subpoena, fighting a subpoena, and then when the president sits down, taking the fifth, one way or another, that would raise implications that there is some evidence here, with regards to the charges that might come against the president. I think the president has got to be very careful to play that game. Because, after all, this should be an effort. The president of the United States swore an oath to uphold the law. This should be a question of finding the truth. And if the truth is something that the president s not afraid of, then it would seem to me that he ought to cooperate with special prosecutor to bring this investigation to a conclusion. The Justice Department, as you know, says it wont turn over the complete memo that was written by Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney general, outlining the full scope of the Robert Mueller investigation. It wont turn it over to members of congress. They released a chunk of it, but a lot of it has been redacted, blacked out. The president tweeted this earlier this morniin the mornin. Let me put it up on the screen. A rigged system. They dont want to turn over documents to congress. What are they afraid of . Why so much redacting . Why so much unequal justice, justice in quotes. At some point, i will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the presidency and get involved. Heres the question, this memo concerns the investigation into the 2016 campaign, the behavior of people in office. Is it wise for the president to make a threat like this against his own Justice Department and, quote, get involved. I think the president has to be reminded time and time again that no president is above the law. This president isnt going to be able to use somehow his constitutional powers to avoid the law being enforced. And the reality is that when the Justice Department makes the decision as to what evidence they will or will not turn over to congress, what theyre trying to do is to make sure that they do not impact on an investigation, a legal investigation into a potential crime. And theyre the ones that have the right to make that judgment. If the president tries to interfere with that, if the president tries to do something that tries to breach their approach to enforcing the law, then very frankly, the courts will uphold the rule of law. Thats what the president has to keep in mind. He might want to play that game, but ultimately, he would pay a heavy price if he does. Well, what if he were simply to declassify that memorandum and say, i dont agree with the Justice Department. They say these paragraphs are redacted because it could undermine criminal investigations that are underway right now, but the president legally, he can declassify anything he wants, right . Well, im not so sure thats the case when it comes to a legal investigation. Its true when it comes to to secrets that are involved with sblebl intelligence and in dealing with foreign crises of one kind or another. But if it involves the president interfering with a legal investigation and releasing trying to release facts that could impede that legal investigation, i think that president would be in trouble. Yeah, i think you make a good point on that front. Let me quickly get your reaction, mr. Secretary, to cnns reporting that the Current White House chief of staff, john kelly, called President Trump, and im quoting now, unhinged. This is just one of many instances of top advisers criticizing the president like this behind closed doors, but as you know, word gets out very quickly. What does all of this tell you . Well, you know, again, there are all kinds of reports about what people say about the president. And i dont know whats true and whats not true. But its obvious, too, that if the president is going to be able to do his job, hes got to have a trusting relationship with his chief of staff. And i guess im hopeful that despite how tough it is in that relationship, that ultimately, because i think john kelly is a good person and trying to do the right thing, i hope that they can restore a relationship of trust, because, ultimately, this president cannot do his job, unless hes got a strong chief of staff whos willing to support that president. Thats the bottom line. So well see where it goes. But i do hope that both of them can develop that kind of trust, because its essential to a chief of staff and a president being able to do their jobs. But if the president undermines the white house chief of staff, tells new people coming into the white house, like larry kudlow, his economic adviser, john bolton, the National Security adviser, you know what, dont go through the white house chief of staff, youre reporting directly to me. If the president decides to use his personal cell phone to skirt the white house chief of staff and not let the white house chief of staff know with whom hes talking, how long can a white house chief of staff and you were once a white house chief of staff continue in that job . Well, then thats a decision for john kelly to make. If, in fact, the president who has the power to do that tells people, you can bypass the chief of staff, you dont have to go through the chief of staffs operation, then i think john kelly faces a very tough decision as to whether or not he can do his job if the president doesnt respect his role as chief of staff. I would certainly not remain chief of staff if the president did that to me when i was chief of staff. Yeah, its a pretty serious snub, indeed. Leon panetta, as usual, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Still ahead, what did a former Trump Campaign aide tell the special counsels team today . Well have a live report on the latest testimony in the russia probe. And the tale of the tapes. A trump accuser looking for evidence in recordings of the apprentice. This endangered species is getting help from some unexpected friends. These zebra and antelope. Theyre wearing iot sensors, connected to the ibm cloud. When poachers enter the area, the animals run for it. Which alerts rangers, who can track their motions and help stop them before any harm is done. Its a smart way to help increase the rhino population. And turn the poachers into the endangered species. You wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . 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