Donald Trump's pick for White House counsel, Donald McGahn, is an odd duck. You may know him from his most recent public duties—acting as Trump's campaign lawyer, but before that crippling the Federal Election Commission so that it could not enforce even egregious violations of campaign law.
McGahn was named a commissioner in July 2008 (he was asked to fill a partially completed term). Since then, the FEC has been gripped with paralysis. According to Holman, deadlocked enforcement votes—meaning no action was taken—averaged 1 percent between 2003 and 2008; they spiked to 16 percent in 2009 and 11 percent in 2010. McGahn and the other GOP commissioners "see no obstacle to placing their own ideology ahead of what the federal law reads," Holman says.
By all accounts McGahn was a proactive force in curtailing the FEC's enforcement efforts; the FEC's own top lawyer resigned under McGahn after McGahn and the other Republican commissioners barred the commission from sharing information with federal prosecutors unless the commissioners voted to give their approval. (It appears he first came to Donald Trump's attention because of his uncle's longtime relationship with Trump.)
So why the White House counsel job? Trump's behavior the past few weeks seem to dictate the chief function of the job under a Trump White House: Giving Trump's rampant conflict-of-interest issues a legal free pass of the sort McGahn often gifted those who ran afoul of his FEC. His previous stint as Tom DeLay's ethics lawyer also likely gives insight as to how McGahn will approach the task of making sure Donald J. Trump's activities are also on the up-and-up.
Now there's a qualification!
