President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday replaced his choice for White House counsel before he even got a chance to start the job, a sign of the shifting power dynamics in Mr. Trump’s inner circle in the weeks before he takes office.
David Warrington, the Trump campaign’s top lawyer, is the new pick for White House counsel, Mr. Trump said on social media. William McGinley, whom Mr. Trump chose for the job just weeks ago, is going to move to a role related to the Department of Government Efficiency, which the billionaire Elon Musk will lead.
The move reflects how quickly allegiances can change in Mr. Trump’s orbit. It also came soon after a spate of headlines about one of his top aides, who was accused of trying to profit off his proximity to the president-elect by asking for tens of thousands of dollars in “retainer fees” from potential appointees.
That aide, Boris Epshteyn, has denied the allegations and is still close to Mr. Trump. Although Mr. Epshteyn has no formal role in the transition process, he had sought to influence the staffing of a range of positions across the administration, especially with legal roles like White House counsel, and had endorsed Mr. McGinley.
Mr. Epshteyn had also pushed for Mr. Trump’s most controversial personnel move and the one that quickly became a dramatic failure: Matt Gaetz, the former Republican congressman, who survived eight days as the future attorney general before an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use torpedoed his bid.
Wednesday’s announcement of Mr. Warrington reflects a choice that Mr. Trump’s new White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, had initially preferred, according to two people briefed on the matter. White House counsel is one of the most important lawyers in the executive branch, responsible for advising the president on legal matters across his policy and political responsibilities.
Mr. Trump had been expected to announce Mr. Warrington for the job along with a spate of other staff moves the week after the election, the two people said. But while Ms. Wiles and most of the top campaign team attended a conference hosted by some of Mr. Trump’s donors in Las Vegas, Mr. Epshteyn pushed for Mr. Trump to name Mr. McGinley.
Pam Bondi, who replaced Mr. Gaetz after he dropped out of the running for attorney general, is also close to Ms. Wiles, although she also has her own relationship with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Warrington is an election law specialist. He rose through Republican politics and most recently was effectively the general counsel to the 2024 Trump campaign.
Mr. Warrington was the lawyer whom Mr. Trump tasked with conducting a review into allegations that Mr. Epshteyn had solicited money from people hoping to receive high-level appointments by Mr. Trump in exchange for an offer to promote them to Mr. Trump and others in his orbit.
The review concluded that Mr. Epshteyn had solicited payment from at least two people, including Scott Bessent, whom Mr. Trump recently announced as his intended Treasury secretary nominee, in return for promoting their names for specific jobs. Mr. Bessent refused to pay it, according to an account of Mr. Warrington’s report described to The New York Times.
The report is said to have concluded that Mr. Epshteyn’s proximity to the president-elect should be “terminated.”
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