President Trump continues to hammer out appointments to his cabinet and other top-tier roles for his administration. William McGinley has been named as White House Counsel.
“I am pleased to announce that William Joseph McGinley will serve as my White House Counsel. Bill is a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement. He served in my first term as White House Cabinet Secretary and played a major role in our election victory as the RNC's Outside Counsel for Election Integrity. Bill has served as General Counsel at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has been a partner at two international law firms, and will work with me as we Make America Great Again!, said President Donald Trump.
South Shore Press spoke with Joe Burns, partner at Holtzman Vogel with McGinley, to get an idea about what the White House Counsel does and who McGinley is as a person.
SSP: Tell me a little about Bill McGinley.
Burns: He's a long-time and very well-respected Republican attorney. He’s been at the highest levels of the legal practice. He is an all-around great guy and seasoned, very well-respected attorney in Washington, but also around the country.
I think even among Democrats you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody that has a bad thing to say about him.
SSP: What does the White House counsel do? What do they do every day?
Burns: It's the person who is the president's top advisor on all things legal and law-related. It's also the person who has a huge role in things like judicial appointments.
SSP: So, if President Trump wants to make some big change like get rid of the Dept. of Education or ban boys in girls sports and gets sued, is the White House Counsel involved?
Burns: If something like that gets that's into court it's really going to be the Justice Department that provides that representation, provides that defense, but in terms of the legalities, the constitutionality, really looking at the pros and the cons, looking at how you go about making certain policy changes. That's going to come through the through the White House counsel.
SSP: To try to make them legal proof, sue proof as much as possible?
Burns: Yeah, and helping the president's top people understand what the pitfalls might be, what the pros and cons might be. What the best arguments could be if and when something gets into court?
Certainly, on things like judicial appointments and understanding what criticisms might arise for nominees, what might in somebody's background that could be a positive or a negative. Things like that are going to fall in the lap of the White House counsel and his team.
SSP: So. this is a person that's going to probably talk to the president almost every day?
Burns: Oh, no question, no question about it.
SSP: Other lawyers could do the job. Do you think it's his existing relationship and the trust that the president has for him that they've built up over the years? Is that what makes the difference?
Burns: Yeah, I think that's a good way to characterize it. Bill was in a pretty high-level position in Trump's first administration within the White House. I'm sure that there was a rapport that was developed in the first administration.
During this campaign, Bill was the National Counsel for Election Integrity for the RNC and he's been involved in the Trump campaign's transition team. He's certainly been around President Trump and in President Trump's orbit.
It's more than just smarts, it's more than just qualifications. It's having a level of comfort and rapport with the individual that clearly Bill has with President Trump or he wouldn't have picked him.