President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate Michael Ellis as the top lawyer at the CIA, according to two people familiar with the decision.

Ellis, who is currently on the CIA landing team, held senior legal and intelligence policy roles on Trump’s National Security Council during his first term. Before that, he served as the top lawyer to partisan firebrand Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a close Trump ally who as House Intelligence Committee chair helped fight allegations the then-president’s campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election.

Ellis’ work pushing back against the Trump-Russia investigation for Nunes was viewed as a major plus for incoming CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Trump, according to one of the two people.

“He is viewed by the Trump team as someone who can push back against the deep state,” said the person, who like the other was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the move.

The Trump transition did not reply to a request for comment. Ellis did not reply to multiple requests for comment.

As the CIA’s top lawyer, the general counsel is charged with giving legal advice to the director of the CIA. The position, which requires Senate confirmation, is closely scrutinized because the agency’s spy missions abroad are often with no public oversight. Some of those operations raise vexing legal and ethical questions almost by their very nature.

Ellis is likely to get confirmed — he is well liked by Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee. But prior controversies around him could draw scrutiny in the upper chamber.

He was prevented from taking up a post as general counsel of the NSA at the tail-end of the first Trump administration because of an inspector general probe into potential political influence in his selection. The NSA inspector general later found no evidence of that.

Ellis has separately been accused of improperly disclosing intelligence documents to Nunes while on the National Security Council.

Donald Trump won’t be crowing about crowd size at his second inauguration. Barely more than 2,000 people will pack into the Capitol Rotunda for a cold-weather inaugural ceremony backup plan not seen since Ronald Reagan.

The call to move the swearing in and inaugural address indoors was made by the Trump team, but the pivot will have to be executed by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and hundreds of workers across Capitol Hill — who have less than 72 hours to pull off a huge pivot.

The have nots: Just a tiny fraction of committed Trump supporters who traveled to Washington will get to see the ceremonies in person. The rotunda crowd will mostly be comprised of lawmakers, other high-ranking officials and Trump’s family. In addition to disappointed ticket holders, a shout out to Republican staffers on Capitol Hill, who watched weeks of work on securing tickets for constituents collapse, with basically no members of the general public able to attend. Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) told constituents in Washington for the festivities to “stay tuned” to email and social media about viewing opportunities.

“The vast majority of ticketed guests will not be able to attend the ceremonies in person,” according to a statement from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. “While we know this is difficult for many attendees, we strongly suggest people who are in Washington for the event attend other indoor events at indoor venues of their choice to watch the inauguration.”

A memo from the House Sergeant at Arms sent to House offices Friday told them to “relay to constituents that their tickets will be commemorative,” with few exceptions.

All lawmakers are expected to be able to attend, though we know some Democrats were already planning not to go. Speaker Mike Johnson sent a memo saying that “updated guidance for members and spouses is forthcoming.”

The irony: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) — whom Trump nicknamed “snow woman” after she famously launched her presidential campaign in a snowstorm — is the chair of the JCCIC and will be tasked with overseeing the move to an indoor inauguration ceremony.

“We respect the decision of the president-elect and his team,” Klobuchar told us on Friday.

In the wake of Trump’s announcement, there was a flurry of activity in the rotunda on Friday. Architect of the Capitol workers assembled a stage platform and other preparations were clearly underway to move an outdoor event that workers started preparing for on Sept. 18 to an indoor setting in three days.

But there is precedent: Almost 40 years ago, during President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985, a severe cold snap on the East Coast moved the event inside. The inaugural parade was also canceled and Reagan was sworn in from an absolutely packed rotunda. The last inauguration to be moved indoors before Reagan was 76 years earlier than that: William Taft in 1909, when a blizzard hit Washington the night before.

Then there’s the cautionary tale of William Henry Harrison, who is believed to have caught a cold during his chilly inauguration, where he gave a lengthy speech wearing no hat, gloves or coat. That led to pneumonia that was believed to have killed him a few weeks later. (Though, it was actually probably Washington’s lack of a sewer system at the time.)

The security posture on Capitol Hill will remain extremely heightened with miles of fencing and hundreds of law enforcement officers on hand. The two assassination attempts on Trump on the campaign trail last year loomed large as security preparations for the inauguration came together. But an indoor ceremony away from thousands of onlookers presents a significantly reduced threat to Trump — with a tightly controlled guest list.

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

The association representing progressive Hill staff withdrew its letter calling for a rotating 32-hour work week for congressional staff in a Friday statement, after significant bipartisan backlash.

“The Congressional Progressive Staff Association hereby withdraws its recent letter to congressional leadership on a rotating 32-hour workweek,” the organization said.

The group said its letter had failed to make clear that progressive staff were dedicated to “serving the American people no matter how many hours it takes to get the job done” and that there were “well-known, longstanding workplace issues that deserve Congress’s immediate attention.”

“There are myriad ways Congress can address these issues. Right now, a 32-hour workweek for staff will not be one of them,” the association said.

Their Thursday letter to congressional leadership had prompted bipartisan criticism, with Republicans accusing progressives of wanting to work less, and Democrats questioning the wisdom of pitching the lighter work schedule days before Donald Trump was set to be sworn in.

The group had pitched a lighter schedule for district office staffers when Congress was in session, and for a lighter week for D.C.-based staff when their boss was back in the district.