Trump taps personal defense attorney Will Scharf to serve in key White House position

WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump has appointed one of his defense lawyers to a White House position, the fourth personal attorney to have landed a prominent job in the incoming Republican administration.

Will Scharf, who played a key role in defending Trump in the federal criminal case tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, will serve as assistant to the president and White House staff secretary.

“Will is a highly skilled attorney who will be a crucial part of my White House team,” Trump said.

Scharf, from Missouri, was part of the Trump defense team fighting Special Counsel Jack Smith’s federal prosecution for trying to steal the 2020 election and obstructing Congress from counting Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021. He helped argue that Trump should be shielded from prosecution because he had immunity as a sitting president of the United States during the incidents underlying the Justice Department’s criminal case.

The Supreme Court in July agreed with Trump that “official” acts taken by a president are protected by immunity, but not steps taken as a candidate.

Scharf is a former prosecutor who ran for Missouri attorney general but lost in the GOP primary in August.

Besides Scharf, Trump has appointed another one of his personal attorneys, Todd Blanche, to serve as deputy attorney general at the Justice Department. Blanche represented Trump aggressively in the New York hush money trial earlier this year, which they lost in route to the first ever criminal conviction for a former president. Blanche also has been a lead attorney on Trump’s defense team in the 2020 election interference case and on charges the former president unlawfully retained classified documents after leaving the White House.

Other Trump attorneys who have been given positions in the incoming administration are Emil Bove, who has been named principal associate deputy attorney general and Dean Sauer, who was tapped as solicitor general. Trump also has nominated Doug Collins, a former Georgia GOP congressman who defended him on Capitol Hill during the Mueller investigation, as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

–

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY