US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed former Jones Day partner William McGinley as his White House counsel.

McGinley reunites with Trump, having served as deputy assistant and assistant to the president during the first Trump administration before departing to join Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky as a partner and as principal and GC at lobby group The Vogel Group.

In the White House counsel role, McGinley will advise Trump on a range of legal matters related to the presidency.

In a statement, Trump said: “Bill is a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponisation of law enforcement.”

Trump also credited McGinley for playing “a major role in our election victory as the RNC’s outside counsel for election integrity”.

Prior to his first spell in the White House, McGinley worked at Jones Day in Washington, specialising in election and political law. He previously spent more than seven years at Patton Boggs, where he was latterly a partner and co-chair of its election law practice group. He also spent time as GC of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and deputy counsel of the Republican National Committee either side of an earlier six-year stint as an associate at Patton Boggs.

Trump appointed three White House counsel during his first term. His first pick was Jones Day partner Don McGahn, who held the position for just under two years before returning to Jones Day. He was replaced by acting counsel Emmet Flood before Pat Cipollone took over for the remainder of Trump’s first term.

Trump has repeatedly railed against the justice system since leaving office, claiming it had been weaponised against him. He has since been charged in four criminal cases, leading to one conviction, making him the first convicted felon to be elected US president. 

He sparked controversy on Wednesday (13 November) when he picked hard-right congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney general. Gaetz previously faced a sex trafficking investigation by the Department of Justice, which was later dropped. He resigned from congress Wednesday, effectively ending an ongoing ethics inquiry into alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.