Treasury aide McGahn, wife of White House counsel, to leave for House panel

Shannon McGahn, a top Treasury Department official and wife of the White House’s top lawyer, is leaving the Trump administration to become staff director of the House Financial Services Committee.

McGahn, a veteran GOP staffer who joined Treasury in 2017, will return as the Financial Services panel’s staff director, committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) announced Friday. She had been the staff director under Hensarling since 2013 before joining the Treasury as counselor to Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

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McGahn had served in a variety of high-ranking roles with GOP lawmakers before joining the Financial Services panel.

“[McGahn’s] leadership will be invaluable this year as we work to put forth bold solutions to reform our broken housing finance system and continue our efforts to pass legislation that promotes a healthy economy that is working for all working Americans,” Hensarling said in a statement.

McGahn is the first Trump-era Treasury aide to leave the department. The announcement came one day after The New York Times reported that her husband, White House counsel Don McGahn, had asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Justice Department’s investigation of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.

Shannon McGahn will replace Kirsten Sutton Mork, a longtime Hensarling aide who will become the chief of staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mork had served as staff director after McGahn’s departure and was previously the committee’s deputy staff director and policy adviser to Hensarling.

“While I am sad to lose such exceptional talent, I know she will do an outstanding job as Chief of Staff for the CFPB and be a tireless advocate for American consumers,” Hensarling said.