Trump Adds Failed Lawyer as White House Implodes!

For more access to expert legal analysis, official court documents and breaking news coverage only available here at the intersection of law and politics, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Attorneys Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian dig into Donald Trump’s pick of Will Scharf — his current White House staff secretary and a former personal defense lawyer — to replace David Warrington as White House counsel starting September 1. Brian and Shant call Scharf a “clone” of Stephen Miller: another young, ideologically aligned loyalist Trump is installing in a top legal post, following the same pattern as outgoing counsel Warrington, a libertarian-leaning, Ron Paul-aligned attorney. Brian walks through Scharf’s résumé: a Harvard Law grad who clerked for federal appellate judges, worked under future Solicitor General John Sauer, then joined Trump’s personal legal team in October 2023, working on the federal election-interference case brought by Jack Smith, the 2024 presidential immunity case at the Supreme Court, the E. Jean Carroll defamation appeal, the Stormy Daniels hush money case, and the New York civil fraud case brought by Letitia James — Trump’s team lost most of them. Scharf also ran unsuccessfully for Missouri attorney general, a campaign where he inflated his prosecutorial record, founded a group called Jews Against Soros, and faced a dropped alcohol-related charge from his Princeton days. Trump also praised Scharf’s role chairing the National Capital Planning Commission, which approved the president’s $400 million White House ballroom project and his planned Memorial Bridge triumphal arch. Brian and Shant note the New York Times has reported Scharf has embraced some of the administration’s most extreme legal positions, even as he’s occasionally pushed back on specific requests. Brian’s bottom line: once again, Trump is rewarding a personal lawyer with a job overseeing the legal interests of the entire country — and based on every past example, this White House counsel appointment isn’t likely to end well for Scharf either.