President Trump has chosen conservative Catholic activist and longtime Washington commercial lawyer Pat Cipollone as his next White House counsel to replace Donald McGahn, according to two people familiar with Trump’s decision. Asked about the White House counsel job on his way to a rally in Kentucky late Saturday, Trump said, "I haven't named the new White House counsel, but over a short period of time." The White House counsel’s team has been eviscerated by departures, having dwindled down to 25 lawyers from 35 earlier in the year. The Washington Post was the first to report in late August that Trump was considering Cipollone as his next White House counsel. W. Neil Eggleston, President Barack Obama’s former White House counsel and a former partner with Cipollone, called Cipollone a “great litigator .

Source: Washington Post October 13, 2018 19:02 UTC