White House counsel Don McGahn is planning to leave sometime this fall, either after Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed by Congress or after the midterm elections, Axios reported Wednesday morning.
According to top White House officials and people close to the lawyer who spoke to Axios, President Trump has not decided who he’ll tap to replace McGahn yet, but McGahn has said that he wants Emmet Flood to be his successor. Flood, who worked for the Clinton and Bush administrations, was hired this spring to help manage the Russia probe. Senior administration officials hope Flood will be the replacement as well, according to Axios.
The news follows a Vanity Fair report on Wednesday that tensions were high between Trump and McGahn over the President’s preoccupation with pardoning his former campaign manager Paul Manafort. Trump is reportedly so passionate about the potential presidential pardon that he was looking into hiring a new White House counsel to get it done.
Trump has been publicly supportive of Manafort since before he was convicted on eight counts of financial crimes and has praised his former associate for not flipping on him.
