president-elect donald trump on friday selected donald mcgahn, his chief campaign attorney, to join him in the white house as his top lawyer, sliding the longtime election-law expert into what promises to be a high-profile job with unique challenges in the next administration. mr. mcgahn, 48 years old, has been a partner since 2013 at the jones day law firm, where he has focused mostly on political<u+200b> law. he first met with mr. trump in 2014 as the new york businessman was exploring a potential presidential campaign. <u+201c>don has a brilliant legal mind, excellent character and a deep understanding of constitutional law,<u+201d> mr. trump said in a statement. <u+201c>he will play a critical role in our administration.<u+201d> mr. trump also named kathleen troia mcfarland as deputy national security adviser on friday. she will work with retired lt. gen. michael flynn, who was named national security adviser . ms. mcfarland, known as <u+201c>kt,<u+201d> had been a fox news national security analyst and worked in the pentagon during the reagan administration. she unsuccessfully ran for the gop u.s. senate nomination in new york in 2006. fox news said friday that it terminated its contract with ms. mcfarland. for mr. mcgahn, the list<u+200b>of legal issues for the white house counsel in the trump administration might be lengthy. mr. trump has a long history of litigation, including a $25 million settlement he recently agreed to over fraud accusations related to his now-defunct real-estate<u+200b>school, trump university. two weeks before the election, he vowed to sue all of the women who accused him of sexual misconduct. mr. trump has<u+200b>promised to pursue executive actions as aggressively as his predecessor, president barack obama, who was regularly challenged in court over questions of overreach. mr. trump is facing many questions over how he will handle possible conflicts of interests created by his global real estate and branding business. mr. obama urged mr. trump last week to find a <u+201c>strong white house counsel that could provide clear guideposts<u+201d> on those business entanglements. mr. mcghan declined to comment on how mr. trump would handle potential conflicts or the framework for executive actions. <u+201c>the white house counsel tends to be responsible for ethics, compliance with those standards, opening on the constitutionality of legislation and executive orders, and vetting appointments,<u+201d> mr. mcgahn said friday in a brief interview, adding that he expects to be tasked with that <u+201c>standard portfolio.<u+201d> during the campaign, mr. trump said he would have nothing to do with his businesses if he won, promising a <u+201c>total and complete separation.<u+201d> but he indicated on tuesday that he was unlikely to disentangle himself from his business empire as fully as he previously suggested. <u+201c>the president can<u+2019>t have a conflict of interest,<u+201d> mr. trump said in an interview with the new york times , adding that <u+201c>the law<u+2019>s totally on my side.<u+201d> a central plank in mr. trump<u+2019>s insurgent candidacy was that he would rid fraud and abuse from the federal government. washington was no longer working for most americans, he told voters, because special interests, rich donors and lobbyists <u+201c>rigged the system<u+201d> to enrich themselves. among the potential conflicts mr. trump and his counsel might face, the president-elect owns hotels and condos overseen by u.s. regulatory agencies. he also has licensing deals with wealthy property owners in foreign countries with extensive business interests of their own who, in some cases, also have political involvement in their countries. of the first 29 countries whose leaders mr. trump has disclosed speaking to since the election, he has real-estate-related business deals in eight, including azerbaijan and turkey, and has sought deals in the past in several others. on executive actions, mr. trump has already ordered his transition team to draft a list of changes he could make to <u+201c>restore our laws and bring back our jobs.<u+201d> those included changes in trade, immigration, energy, regulatory curbs, national security and ethics. early in the campaign, he promised to use the power of the pen to give all killers of police the death penalty. responding to the shooting death of 49 people inside an orlando, fla., gay club in june, he pledged to use executive power to temporarily halt muslim immigration. <u+201c>trump will do whatever he thinks obama has set<u+200b> a precedent for,<u+201d> said boyden gray, who served as white house counsel under president george h.w. bush. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s a lot of things he could do, but it<u+2019>s going to be a tough slog, and he<u+2019>ll need very good people around him.<u+201d> mr. mcgahn, an atlantic city, n.j., native, earned his law degree at widener university in 1994 and started his legal career at patton boggs. his uncle, patrick <u+201c>paddy<u+201d> mcgahn, a local power broker and lawyer, helped mr. trump with his atlantic city projects, according to journalist wayne barrett<u+2019>s book <u+201c>trump: the greatest show on earth: the deals, the downfall, the reinvention.<u+201d> the two had a falling out after lawyers representing the trump plaza hotel & casino in atlantic city in bankruptcy proceedings challenged the elder mcgahn<u+2019>s bills. a republican since college, the younger mr. mcgahn quickly gravitated to the gop as a lawyer. when texas gov. george w. bush launched his presidential campaign in 1999, it was mr. mcgahn who filed the paperwork with the federal election commission. he served as the in-house counsel for the national republican congressional committee, the house gop campaign arm, until president bush appointed him in 2008 to the fec, where he would serve as chairman and vice chairman. craig burkhardt, a partner at barnes & thornburg llp who has known him for 15 years, said the florida recount in the 2000 presidential election elevated the visibility of election law, and mr. mcgahn was <u+201c>positioned to ride the wave of new interest.<u+201d> he described mr. mcgahn as a direct and precise lawyer endowed with an index-like knowledge of fec case law and regulations, in contrast to his shaggy hair and known affinity for playing lead guitar and rock music. mr. burkhardt placed mr. mcgahn as among the 10 best election lawyers in the country and the most generous of his time to other lawyers trying to settle into the practice. at the fec, democrats and groups advocating for tougher campaign-finance restrictions accused mr. mcgahn of<u+200b>steering the agency into an era of gridlock. mr. mcgahn led a bloc of three republicans who stymied efforts by advocacy groups aiming to reduce the influence of money in politics. mr. mcgahn argued it was a free-speech issue. <u+201c>you don<u+2019>t pick the guy who broke the fec if you want to drain the swamp in washington,<u+201d> said adam smith, referring to one of mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign promises. mr. smith is a spokesman for every voice, which advocates reducing the influence of money in politics. other critics, including some former commissioners who served with him at the federal election commission, have accused mr. mcgahn of weakening the agency<u+2019>s ability to enforce election law. mr. mcgahn considered it a point of pride that the new york times editorial board frequently singled him out for criticism, said michael b. thielen, executive director of the republican national lawyers association. mr. thielen had lunch with mr. mcgahn soon after mr. trump declared his intent to run for president and learned that mr. mcgahn was helping him. many republicans weren<u+2019>t taking mr. trump<u+2019>s run seriously, but the small community of election lawyers knew differently, upon learning of mr. mcgahn<u+2019>s involvement. <u+201c>when he hired don, it was a sure thing,<u+201d> mr. thielen said. <u+201c>you don<u+2019>t hire don if it<u+2019>s not real.<u+201d> some of mr. mcgahn<u+2019>s acquaintances viewed him as an odd fit for mr. trump, who on the campaign trail often inveighed against special interests whose influence in politics mr. mcgahn has spent his career assisting. a running joke among his friends was that <u+201c>trump hired him for his hair,<u+201d> mr. thielan said. <u+2014>rebecca ballhaus contributed to this article. write to michael c. bender at mike.bender@wsj.com
donald trump selects<u+00a0>donald mcgahn<u+00a0>as white house counsel  - wsj
michael c. bender