Trump Switches His Selection for White House Counsel Role

The president-elect has swapped in David Warrington for William McGinley and named McGinley to be counsel for DOGE.

President-elect Donald Trump has made some rapid-fire changes to his administration’s prospective legal team.

In a Dec. 4 post on Truth Social, he named David A. Warrington as White House counsel. A partner at Dhillon Law Group, Warrington was general counsel for the Trump campaign.

Trump had initially named William McGinley, who previously was his White House Cabinet secretary, as White House counsel.

Trump clarified McGinley’s position in a follow-up post on Truth Social.

“I have asked William Joseph McGinley to serve as Counsel to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), something he is very passionate about,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

“He will partner with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to provide advice and guidance to end the bloated federal bureaucracy.”

Before Thanksgiving, Trump selected Russ Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget, a key post in any attempt to make executive branch agencies more responsive to the president. Vought served in the same role during Trump’s first term.

The reshuffle occurred after Trump’s nominee. for Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator was removed from consideration and earlier, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) stepped down as U.S. attorney general nominee.

Trump swiftly nominated another politician from the Sunshine State, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The president-elect’s choice for secretary of defense, the military veteran and Fox personality Pete Hegseth, has also come under scrutiny after accusations of misconduct surfaced, including claims that he had a drinking problem during his time at Fox.

Multiple colleagues of Hegseth in the media have denied the drinking-related allegations.

“That he’s some problematic drunk is laughable—but there’s nothing funny about these coordinated smears,” radio host Jason Rantz wrote on social media platform X.

Hegseth has said on social media that he doesn’t intend to “back down” from the nomination.

Warrington, Trump’s new choice for White House counsel, is also a military veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served as general counsel for Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential run and, in 2016, helped represent the Trump campaign at the Republican National Convention. He earned his law degree from George Mason University.

The managing partner of Dhillon Law Group, Harmeet Dhillon, is a Republican national committeewoman. In 2022, she challenged the then-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, in the contest for her position. McDaniel ultimately won reelection.

McGinley, now Trump’s choice to serve as counsel for the DOGE commission, has a law degree from George Washington University. He has held multiple legal roles with the Republican Party.

He, too, worked for Trump in 2016, after being hired ahead of that year’s Republican National Convention.