Top Trump lawyer in private email exchange: 'Me and Kelly' are the 'adults in the room'

White House special counsel Ty Cobb on Tuesday engaged in a lengthy email exchange in which he defended his decision to join President Donald Trump's legal team and appeared to refer to himself and White House chief of staff John Kelly as the "adults in the room."

Jeff Jetton, the owner of a popular ramen restaurant in Washington, DC, has made himself known to reporters by digging into Trump's alleged ties to Russia, partly as an unabashed troll. He sat down with Carter Page, an early Trump campaign foreign-policy adviser, and Sergei Millian, a reported source in the dossier alleging Trump-Russia ties, earlier this year for separate on-the-record interviews. Jetton also once wrote Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to give him fashion advice.

Cobb responded, using his official White House email account, to Jetton's obscenity-laden emails to him on Tuesday night. The exchange, which was provided to Business Insider by Jetton, sheds light on Cobb's motivations for entering the White House and his perception of his role there.

"How are you sleeping at night? You're a monster," Jetton wrote to Cobb's White House email account on Tuesday night.

"Like a baby..." Cobb replied.

The conversation escalated quickly, with Jetton attacking "the havoc" Cobb and his "ilk are causing."

"I, like many others, lay awake, restless, my mind dissecting countless scenarios of how bad this could get, what new thing you have dreamt up to pull us down a pathway to hell," Jetton wrote. "You remind me less of a grumpy baseball player and more of that horrid clown from the Stephen King novel."

Cobb replied: "Enjoy talking to the Secret Service. Hope you are you less than nine years old as you seem to be...."

He later called Jetton "deranged impotent and unimportant," but continued to respond.

Jetton wrote that Trump is "screwing everyday Americans" and that "I don't have to tell you that, it's right there slapping you across the face."

Cobb replied: "Dude U have no idea! I walked away from $4 million annually to do this, had to sell my entire retirement account for major capital losses and lost a s---load to try to protect the third pillar of democracy. Your hate I will never understand as an American. Hope you get help!"

Asked later by Jetton to "set the record straight" and explain how Cobb is "justifying" his role at the White House to himself and others, Cobb said he "can say assertively [that] more adults in the room will be better. Me and Kelly among others."

Jetton went on to ask what "drives folks like you to give up their legacies and careers to stand side by side with him."

Cobb then wrote a lengthy note defending his philanthropic record and asserting that the Russia investigation is "limiting" Russia's cooperation with the US against North Korea.

"Forgiven," Cobb wrote. "You should check out my record, Chairman of the Grand Canyon Trust, largest donor to Mercy Corps, significant donor to Historically black colleges, Feed the Children and other needy and important groups to the tuber of over $4 million in last 10 years, among others."

"Three pillars of govt. All deserve a defense," he continued. "Particularly with phony allegations and fake news. I am on be here for long but will be I my piece against bullshit Russian bull---- that hurts us now and is totally political limiting Russian cooperation against NK. This s--- is real and real time. Got to go: Best, Ty."

It is not the first time Cobb has sent unusual emails from his White House account. Late Saturday night, he asked this reporter via email in response to questions about the firing of former FBI Director James Comey: "Are you on drugs?"

Jetton told Business Insider that he doesn't know Cobb but emailed to voice his "displeasure in what I see as a pattern of high-powered attorneys in Washington giving up any semblance of ethical consideration to work for a disastrous regime."

Cobb did not respond to emails, calls, and text messages seeking comment on Wednesday.