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IIt was not until September 27 of this year, when millions of Americans were introduced to Don McGahn.
Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Told Brett Kavanaugh, Supreme Court nominee, who was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee about allegations of sexual misconduct, "in the front row, to Don McGahn , President Donald Trump's lawyer. Ask him to suspend this hearing and the appointment process until the FBI completes his investigation of the charges brought by Dr. Ford and others. "
McGahn, a White House lawyer until last week, was sitting just above Kavanaugh's left shoulder, in the front row, and had just come out of the camera captured by millions of dollars. Americans delighted who had listened to the extraordinary hearing in which Kavanaugh and the woman accused him of having sexually assaulted her in 1982, testified Christine Blasey Ford.
McGahn, 50, is largely unknown and played a key role in Kavanaugh's confirmation process. He appeared with him in courtesy conversations with senators and at Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing in early September. members.
After being charged with sexual misconduct by three separate women, Kavanaugh's confirmation was at stake.
But it was McGahn who, along with President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Played a crucial role in finally pushing Kavanaugh's nomination to the finish line.
McGahn's lawyer at the White House will include the confirmation of two Supreme Court justices – cementing a conservative majority in the high court – as well as dozens of lower court judges.
During the Trump administration, it was largely Trump and McConnell who contributed to the GOP's success in restructuring the federal justice system. But McGahn completes the trio, playing a more behind-the-scenes role.
"I think Don will be one of the best White House lawyers," said Michael McGinley, a former deputy legal counsel who participated in the selection process for judges. "He was able to move the ball and demonstrate integrity, judgment and tenacity. When I think of Don, I think of the integrity, the strength and the clarity of things, and there are no better qualities for a White House lawyer than these. "
Former Commissioner of the Federal Electoral Commission, McGahn was no stranger to Trump when he was appointed to head the White House Council Office.
McGahn joined the presidential campaign of the businessman turned politician in 2015, as a lawyer.
Trump then hired McGahn to serve as an advisor to the White House. McGahn has been in this position ever since, but will soon be leaving.
Although Mr. McGahn had many problems, including the investigation of the special advocate Robert Mueller in Russia, he also oversaw the process that led Trump to appoint 84 judges to the federal judiciary, including two judges to the Supreme Court and 29 Circuit Court Judges.
For McGahn, the focus on judicial appointments began long before Trump occupied the White House.
At the Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture at the Federalist Society's Lawyer Convention in November, McGahn recalled a phone conversation that he had had in Iowa with a representative of the Conservative legal group, who wanted talk about the selection of judges.
The Trump campaign, said McGahn to the manager, was preparing two lists of candidates for the judiciary.
"The first list, we want ordinary people, not a big trail of paper," he told the crowd of the Federalist Society. "The kind of people who, you know, will go to the Senate and make us feel good that we have put pragmatic people on the bench."
The second list, he said, would include "some people too hot for prime time".
"The kind that would really be hot in the Senate, probably the people who wrote a lot, we really have an idea of their point of view, the kind of person, you understand, the kind of person you know makes some people nervous," McGahn continued.
The first list would go to the trash, he said, while the second list of candidates would go to the Senate "because I know that Chief McConnell will get there."
McGahn then reassured the crowd of the Federalist Society that Trump was "very attached to what we stand for, namely, to appoint and appoint judges who are committed originalists and textualists."
For the Conservatives, Trump has followed through on this commitment, with the help of McConnell and the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
"Candidates for the judiciary, probably more than any other political initiative, have been incredibly popular with conservatives and libertarians," said Carrie Severino, chief counsel of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network. "This is an area in which the President has truly excelled, and Don McGahn's leadership is critical to achieving this goal."
As a White House lawyer, McGahn's top two priorities were judicial appointments and deregulation, said McGinley, the former associate attorney.
And McGahn was intentional with the way he built the White House council office and with whom he hired, said a person familiar with the selection process of judges. This included the hiring of several litigants, which contributed to the way the office approached the judges' appointments.
"He built a very important law firm in the White House, which houses people who understand very well the importance of appointing originalist and textualist judges and who understand the importance of respecting and imposing limits on particularly the state, "said Leonard Leo, an external adviser to the White House for the selection of judges.
Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, said the process set up by the Trump administration was different from the one used by previous presidents.
"Judicial selection in this administration has been more centralized in the White House council office than in previous administrations," he said.
A White House official said that the process of appointing judges was governed by the office of the White House legal advisor, rather than by the Legislative Affairs Office, for example, which helped make this appointment a priority.
"If you negotiate and negotiate, things are compromised," said the manager.
When selecting candidates, the White House Council Office seeks the advice of various parties and, according to the courts, relies on that of the senators in their country of origin. district court candidates.
McGinley said McGahn had tried to talk to every senator, even if everyone did not want to talk to him.
In some cases, consultations with Senators from States of origin resulted in unanimous confirmation of candidates.
For example, during the Senate Judiciary Committee's review of two candidates for the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeal, Durbin thanked the White House Council Office for its consultation and Senator Tammy Duckworth, D- Ill., About vacancies.
But in other cases, senators and the White House have failed to agree.
This is the case for the vacant positions at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States, which the White House announced to name three candidates from California.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Accused the White House of advancing with the candidates without consulting her.
But in a letter to Grassley, McGahn said the White House had tried to negotiate with Feinstein and Senator Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Without success.
"We spent nearly two years trying to engage constructively with senators on the growing number of vacancies in California-related courts," he wrote. "In fact, we have made more attempts to consult and have spent more time in this state than any other country in the country."
McGahn said he met Feinstein several times, but Harris, on the contrary, "refused to talk to the White House at any level on the subject."
The White House official said some Senators were more willing than others to work with the Trump government, but noted that McGahn was working to build relationships with Senators and strengthen existing relationships with McConnell and Grassley.
"Don is a strong supporter of this effort, and he speaks openly about it, talked about it, wrote about it, and was a force in this area," said the manager.
When McGahn left the White House, he played a direct role in the confirmation of two Supreme Court justices, Neil Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh's confirmation process was, however, much more bitter and controversial than Gorsuch's.
Before testifying at the remarkable hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the charges at the end of September, Kavanaugh spoke privately with McGahn, the Wall Street Journal reported.
McGahn urged Kavanaugh to let the senators know his true feelings about the charges, sources told the Journal.
During the hearing, Kavanaugh gave a raw and emotional testimony and strongly denied the charges against him.
The Senate finally confirmed Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court at a close vote at 50-48 this month.
"He has assembled a very effective team of people at the White House and the Department of Justice to guide the bid," said Leo about McGahn. "He was a very important sounding board for the candidate and he basically ensured the President's enthusiasm the candidate demonstrated through a highly effective strategic operation that involved communications and contacts with key senators, as well as very neat messages. "
Trump officially announced McGahn's August departure via Twitter and announced that his White House lawyer would leave Kavanaugh's confirmation "shortly thereafter".
This tweet sparked the disappointment of Capitol Hill's top Republicans.
"I hope that's not true … McGahn leaves WhiteHouse Counsel," Grassley tweeted to Trump after his announcement. "You can not let that happen."
McConnell, on the other hand, called McGahn "the most impressive legal advisor in the White House while in Washington."
Trump confirmed this month that McGahn's successor would be Pat Cipollone, a commercial litigation lawyer and a former justice department attorney.
Despite McGahn's departure, the White House should continue to put pressure on candidates for the bench.
"A good manager always leaves his house in order after having or what he leaves, and that's certainly what McGahn did with the White House council office," he said. Leo. A successor should be able to pinpoint what they're saying. I did it quite easily. "
But McGinley said McGahn's replacement had big problems to fill.
"No one will be able to reproduce Don because he's a unique breed," he said. "He is such an incredible advocate, he is so good at what he does and has a good sense of judgment and great political sensitivity.He combines all the factors into one, and that is really hard. "
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