Congress
Here’s who’s in the running to be Trump’s White House counsel
Two lawyers who have played key roles in investigations into Donald Trump and his top allies are now under consideration for a crucial gig in his administration: White House counsel.
David Warrington, the general counsel for the Trump campaign; and Stanley Woodward, a defense lawyer who has represented many prominent Trump aides, are both in the mix, according to two people familiar with the transition team’s deliberations. Other candidates are also under consideration.
“President-Elect Trump will begin making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration soon,” said Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “Those decisions will be announced when they are made.”
Both men are also advising the transition on legal matters. Woodward and Warrington did not respond to requests for comment.
The White House counsel represents the presidency as an institution, helming a staff of lawyers who specialize in federal government operations. During the first Trump term, then-White House Counsel Don McGahn prioritized the appointment of young conservatives to the federal judiciary — one of the most enduring parts of Trump’s first four years.
Warrington, a partner at Dhillon Law Group, helped guide the Trump campaign through a maze of unprecedented political and legal challenges.
He represented Trump during the Jan. 6 select committee’s investigation, along with former national security advisor Michael Flynn, former White House personnel adviser Johnny McEntee, and “Stop the Steal” organizers Amy and Kylie Kremer. And Warrington represents Trump in ongoing civil lawsuits brought by members of Congress and police officers over the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Previously, he was general counsel for Ron Paul’s 2012 campaign and advised the Trump campaign during the 2016 Republican National Convention.
Woodward, once a big-law denizen specializing in complex civil litigation, has spent the last few years rising to prominence along with his law partner former House counsel Stan Brand. The pair represented Trump aide Dan Scavino before the Jan. 6 select committee and special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump and his allies’ effort to subvert the 2020 election.
Woodward also expanded his client roster to include other prominent Trump allies ensnared in related probes, including former adviser Kash Patel, former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and Trump’s body man Walt Nauta, who was charged alongside Trump in the Florida classified documents probe. Woodward played a role in fighting the Justice Department’s effort to access Rep. Scott Perry’s phone as part of the 2020 election probe.
Woodward has also represented several notable defendants who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including Kelly Meggs, a member of the Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy; and Ryan Samsel, who helped instigate the first breach of police lines that day.
Congress
Progress made on House budget, key holdout says
A key ultraconservative holdout said Wednesday that enough progress has been made in stalled House budget talks that a blueprint needed to unlock President Donald Trump domestic policy plans could be released by the end of the week.
Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina is one of several Freedom Caucus members who sit on the House Budget Committee and have so far rejected Speaker Mike Johnson’s initial budget plan last week — causing GOP leaders to scramble for hundreds of billions more in spending cuts.
“We’re working on full text,” Norman said in a brief interview Wednesday. “But I will tell you, it’s promising, what we’re doing.”
Republicans are still working through deeply complex policy questions — including weighing how much in costly tax cuts the hard-liners will support. GOP leaders are acknowledging they may need to dial back some of the tax provisions to get the resolution through the Budget Committee, with senior House Republicans privately skeptical a final budget resolution can come together by Friday. They’re hopeful, instead, for next week.
Johnson’s entire timeline for passage of the Trump agenda faced near-collapse earlier this week due to the right-wing backlash. But Norman signaled he’s so far inclined to support the reworked budget resolution if “Trump’s on board with it” and if it accomplishes “what Trump wants to do” on border security, deportation operations and other measures.
Amid the House infighting, Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he would move forward with his own, competing blueprint next week.
Johnson said Wednesday he was “hoping” to present a revised budget plan to his conference by the end of this week. He also urged Graham to “understand the reality of the house” as “a very different chamber with very different dynamics.”
“The House needs to lead this if we’re going to have success,” he said. “We feel very optimistic we’re getting there, and we’re going to find that equilibrium point and get this done.”
Congress
Hispanic Democrats privately strategize how to counter Trump with immigration groups
Congressional Hispanic Caucus members met privately with immigration advocacy groups Tuesday night to strategize how to counter President Donald Trump’s executive actions that have already altered the immigration system.
The goals of the meeting, which were outlined in a document obtained by POLITICO, include increasing immigration legal defense, fundraising for the influx of legal needs and messaging efforts to counter anti-immigrant rhetoric from Republicans. It’s the latest sign that Democrats are scrambling over a strategy to fight Trump as they look on from the congressional minority.
Lawmakers and immigration groups want to focus on “families, farmworkers and Dreamers,” something Democrats on Capitol Hill have been reiterating since Trump took office last month. Trump has signed multiple executive actions concerning immigration and the House GOP has been working to tee up a tough-on-migrants legislative agenda.
Recent executive orders include undoing Biden-era border policies, drastically changing the asylum system and targeting existing legal pathways. Democrats continue to reckon with their 2024 loss, after Republicans aggressively attacked them over immigration and border policies and Democrats struggled to mount an effective response. Trump has continued that messaging strategy from the White House, blitzing the airwaves and social media feeds with immigration enforcement actions.
Congress
Senate panel will advance budget next week, Graham says
The Senate will move forward with a budget blueprint next week setting out a two-track approach to enacting President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda, key senators said Wednesday.
The announcement, made by Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham inside a closed-door Senate GOP lunch, comes after a competing framework from Speaker Mike Johnson and other House Republican leaders has stalled in recent days due to internal conflicts in that chamber.
Graham (R-S.C.) made a presentation on the blueprint he plans to advance, which will tee-up the Senate’s two-part reconciliation strategy — starting with a border, energy and defense bill. A tax-focused package would follow.
“I wouldn’t faint with surprise if we marked up next week,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a Budget Committee member said coming out of the lunch. A person in the meeting confirmed the Budget Committee plans to vote next week.
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