Trump selects next White House counsel, source says
WASHINGTON — President Trump is expected to name conservative Catholic activist and longtime Washington commercial lawyer Pat Cipollone as his next White House counsel to replace Donald McGahn, according to a person directly involved in the decision.
Cipollone, who practices commercial litigation at Stein Mitchell Cipollone Beato & Missner, is well liked and respected among Trump’s personal lawyers and had been informally advising them since at least June on the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Cipollone is expected to take over the premier legal office in the coming week, pending a security clearance review. He would lead this office at a momentous and challenging time. The White House counsel’s team has been eviscerated by departures, having dwindled to 25 lawyers from 35 earlier in the year. The office normally has a staff of 50 lawyers. It has also lost four of its five key deputies in recent months.
The losses come at an inopportune time: The White House is bracing for a withering investigative assault from Congress if Democrats take control of the House of Representatives after the midterm election. The White House counsel’s office will be the primary manager and defender of the administration in the expected flood of congressional investigations and subpoenas.
Trump had also debated hiring Emmet Flood, a White House lawyer who is helping to handle the special counsel investigation, but decided to let Flood focus on his current task. Flood, who is good friends with Cipollone, will remain in his key role.
Trump surprised some by his hasty announcement in late August that McGahn, who has led the administration’s efforts to reshape the judiciary, would leave his post as soon as Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process was completed.
Though the president had not made a selection in August, he tweeted that he was “very excited about the person who will be taking the place of Donald McGahn as White House Counsel.”
According to the biography on his firm’s website, Cipollone has practiced in commercial litigation, trade regulation and healthcare fraud. He has extensive expertise in defending corporations, as well as handling complex federal investigations and “prepublication negotiations” over defamatory media reports.
He is a former partner at the law firm Kirkland and Ellis, whose attorneys have included Kavanaugh and Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.
Cipollone is respected by Washington lawyers for his nuanced work on complex federal investigations and corporate defense.
Tom Yannucci, former chairman of Kirkland and Ellis, said Cipollone is “a master at handling highstakes cases” and has the skills that will prove important if a Democratic House takes on the White House next year.