You can't throw a fork in Washington DC without hitting a lawyer at lunchtime. Every power-luncher in DC knows this, including – unfortunately for Ty Cobb and John Dowd, two senior members of US President Donald Trump's legal team – reporters for The New York Times.

That's why the Washington DC legal industry reaction to Sunday's eavesdropped scoop about the president's legal team ranged from tsk-tsking to disbelief.