White House insider warns of Trump's 'palpable' cognitive decline

A former Donald Trump lawyer says the 80-year-old’s cognitive decline is not impossible to miss, pointing to his deteriorating speech patterns and increasingly bizarre behavior since his return to the White House.

Ty Cobb, who served as White House special counsel during Donald Trump’s first term, said the following in a new ABC News in-depth report on the midterm elections.

“His deterioration is very palpable. He can’t get into a sentence without multiple tangents,” Cobb said, continuing:

“I don't know a credentialed psychiatrist who doesn't think that Trump is a diminished malignant narcissist. He can't get into a sentence without multiple tangents.”

The attorney, who answered directly to Trump before leaving the White House in 2018, also said he doesn’t believe the president is fit to serve the American people.

He pointed to Trump’s daily routine as evidence, such as the president nodding off during afternoon events at the White House, then waking at 4 a.m. to post memes online.

Cobbs made an example of Trump sharing an AI video of former President Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office, and a video depicting Trump flying a plane and dumping filth on protesters at the “No Kings” demonstrations. Cobb said posts like these have drained the presidency of whatever dignity it had left.

Cobb also criticized Trump for defying the rule of law when it comes to some of his renovation projects.

He said Trump rammed through his new ballroom without seeking permission, destroyed the East Wing and lied about it, and did much the same with the Reflecting Pool. He described the Trump-style gold interior as a desecration of what was once a hallowed room.

Luke Ball, a Republican strategist who worked on Trump's 2024 re-election campaign, interviewed in the same report, insisted that while the president isn’t the same man he was two decades ago, he is aging gracefully and remains up to the job.

Cobb’s sharpest warning concerned Tuesday’s election, warning that there is a strong likelihood that ICE agents will appear at polling places, and that Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act and send in the National Guard.

Cobb believes Trump would do just about anything to remain in power.

Trump has refused to rule out sending federal agents to voting sites, saying he would do whatever is necessary to ensure what he calls honest elections.

Asked by a right-wing broadcaster whether he would declare a national security emergency around the vote, he replied only that stranger things have happened.

Election officials up and down the country are already planning for trouble ahead following Trump and his allies' campaign to sow the seed of doubt in the election process.

“Sadly, a new hazard on the list this time that’s never been on the list before is the possibility that our own federal government would try to interfere somehow, directly or indirectly,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, told CNN.