Trump reverses course, names new White House lawyer

US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday reversed course and selected David Warrington as his top White House lawyer, reassigning his previous choice, William McGinley, to a role working with Elon Musk’s outside government efficiency group.

Warrington, who has served as Trump’s personal counsel and a lawyer for his campaign, currently leads the political law unit at the Dhillon Law Group, where he is a partner.

“He is an esteemed lawyer and Conservative leader,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social announcing the change.

Meanwhile, McGinley, will serve as the lead lawyer for a Trump-created government efficiency board dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Trump had initially named McGinley, who served in his first presidential term as White House cabinet secretary, as his White House lawyer on Nov. 12.

Trump has indicated that the DOGE entity led by billionaire Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would operate outside the government but its planned operations remains unclear.

Musk and Ramaswamy, who both have business ties impacted by the US government that could be conflicts of interest, have called for mass layoffs of government workers and billions of dollars in budget cuts.

McGinley “will play a crucial role in liberating our Economy from burdensome Regulations, excess spending, and Government waste. He will partner with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to provide advice and guidance to end the bloated Federal Bureaucracy,” Trump wrote.

Warrington has also served as a lawyer for Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser during his first White House term, and led a lawsuit for the National Association for Gun Rights over forced reset triggers.