US President-elect Donald Trump, on Tuesday, announced that veteran Republican lawyer Bill McGinley would take on the role of White House counsel.
“Bill is a sharp and persistent lawyer who will assist me in advancing our America First goals while defending election integrity and opposing the misuse of law enforcement,” Trump stated.
The White House counsel serves as a crucial legal advisor to the president, acting as a guardrail for presidential actions. However, Trump’s leadership style has previously led his White House counsels to become key witnesses in numerous federal inquiries, including Don McGahn, Trump’s first White House counsel and a longtime associate of McGinley.
McGinley has deep-rooted connections to Trump’s circle. He previously held the role of White House Cabinet Secretary in Trump’s first term and served as external counsel for the Republican National Committee on “election integrity” during the 2024 election.
Well-regarded in Washington, D.C., McGinley is known as a seasoned political lawyer. He has worked as a partner at two prominent law firms: Patton Boggs, once a powerhouse in lobbying, and Jones Day, a conservative-leaning giant. McGinley has represented the Republican Party for many years, and his current firm, though smaller, is recognized for its respected team of political lawyers.
In recent years, McGinley has advised political campaigns on legal compliance, according to fellow political attorneys familiar with his expertise. He also has extensive experience counselling political figures in need of legal representation for ethics and grand jury matters that Trump himself has frequently encountered.
In the January 6, 2021, federal criminal case involving the president-elect, Trump’s then-White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, and his deputy, Patrick Philbin, testified before a grand jury. They recounted urging Trump to tell the Capitol rioters to vacate the building, as detailed in court records.
Cipollone also informed Trump that he would resign, along with several Justice Department leaders, if Trump followed through with a plan to replace the attorney general and spread unproven claims of election fraud after the 2020 election.
Eventually, Cipollone and Philbin were removed from the case against Trump by the Justice Department following a Supreme Court decision this summer. The ruling granted certain immunities around presidential actions in criminal proceedings. This case is now paused as Trump prepares to take on the presidency once again.
