Emmet Flood steps in as White House counsel following McGahn departure

Attorney Emmet Flood took over Thursday morning as White House counsel, replacing Don McGahn until his full-time successor joins the administration.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that Flood will serve as counsel to the president until Pat Cipollone takes over the job. Once Cipollone arrives, Flood will return to his role of special counsel to the president.

Sanders did not provide a timeline for when Cipollone might start.

{mosads}The announcement came the morning after McGahn departed as White House counsel following nearly two years on the job.

President Trump confirmed Tuesday that he chose Cipollone, a commercial litigator, as the next White House counsel.

Cipollone is likely to be at the forefront of legal battles between the White House and Congress if Democrats retake control of the House in the November midterm elections. Party leaders have said they intend to investigate Trump’s taxes as well as other matters.

McGahn’s exit was expected, as Trump announced in August that he would leave at the conclusion of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process.

McGahn was at the forefront of shepherding Trump’s two Supreme Court picks — Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch — through the confirmation process.

He made headlines in August for reports that he sat for more than 30 hours with special counsel Robert Mueller to discuss the firing of former FBI Director James Comey and Trump’s criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Less than two weeks after reports of McGahn’s cooperation surfaced, Trump announced in a tweet that the White House counsel would leave his post following Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

Flood, who joined the White House in May, has served as a member of the president’s legal team in the Russia investigation. Prior to arriving in the Trump administration, he helped represent then-President Bill Clinton in his impeachment proceedings and served in the White House counsel’s office for former President George W. Bush.