Trump says White House counsel McGahn to leave in the fall
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that White House Counsel Don McGahn will leave his post in the fall after shepherding the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
White House Counsel Don McGahn sits behind U.S. President Donald Trump as the president holds a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S. June 21, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The relationship between Trump and McGahn, a Washington insider who was chief counsel for Trump’s presidential run, has become strained by the pressures of the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. McGahn, one of Trump’s earliest appointments to the White House, voluntarily cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller and his team.
“White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!”
McGahn’s departure was widely expected. He will be the latest in a large number of high-ranking White House officials to leave Trump’s side in what has been an unprecedented level of staff turnover.
Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Bill Trott
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