His job was running point for the White House

Rachel Maddow uttered this one the other night.  Referring to Ty Cobb, Trump’s lawyer who resigned, said, “His job was running point for the White House on the Trump Russia investigation.”  This is a mashup of the military expression “walk (or take) point” (to assume the first and most exposed position in a combat military formation) and “running interference” (to take actions to avoid or prevent certain problems).  As the submitter said, if you ran point, you’d out distance yourself from the other troops, which is a bad idea.  A big thanks to Frank King who heard this one and passed it on!