You know what Donald Trump says when it comes to White House personnel choices: The more pliable, the better. That's what made Michael Ellis, a White House lawyer and former counsel to the House Intelligence Committee under Devin Nunes, perfect for the job. If he worked for Nunes on House Intel and worked in the White House counsel's office throughout the Ukraine scandal and still hasn't shown a lick of integrity, he's perfect.
Now Trump has tapped Ellis to take over as senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council, according to Politico. The role has typically been filled by someone with an actual background in intelligence, say from the CIA or State Department or National Security Agency. The position is tasked with maintaining coordination between the White House and the intelligence community, and it also houses the NSC server, which is typically used to store extremely sensitive information. The server has also become a repository for Trump's embarrassing and even illicit conversations with foreign leaders. In fact, Ellis was named by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman as one of the people responsible for moving the record of Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the super secret server. Ellis was also asked to testify before the Intelligence panel but he declined to do so.
Ellis started working in the White House counsel's office in 2017 and reportedly played a role in revealing intelligence with Nunes that ultimately spurred his investigations into the origins of the Russia probe. Ellis is replacing a career government professional who had been assigned to work on the NSC. That seat will now be filled by a Trump loyalist and Nunes conspirator who has no background in intelligence.