You can't throw a fork in this town without hitting a lawyer at lunchtime. Every power luncher in Washington, D.C., knows this, including—unfortunately for Ty Cobb and John Dowd—reporters for The New York Times.

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

Cobb, the long-time Hogan Lovells partner with the handlebar mustache, and Dowd, the celebrity defense attorney who's always on offense, went to BLT Steak and had a conversation about their work for President Donald Trump as he faces down special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators. Reporter Ken Vogel overheard snippets of Cobb's remarks, which led to these front-page details in The New York Times:

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“The White House counsel's office is being very conservative with this stuff,” Mr. Cobb told Mr. Dowd. “Our view is we're not hiding anything.” Referring to [White House counsel Donald] McGahn, he added, “He's got a couple documents locked in a safe.” Mr. Cobb expressed concern about another White House lawyer he did not name. “I've got some reservations about one of them,” Mr. Cobb said. “I think he's like a McGahn spy.”

While Mr. Cobb advocated turning over documents to Mr. Mueller, he seemed sensitive to the argument that they should not necessarily be provided to congressional committees investigating the Russia matter. “If we give it to Mueller, there is no reason for it to ever get to the Hill,” he said

Mr. Cobb also discussed the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting—and the White House's response to it—saying that “there was no perception that there was an exchange.”