A Trump loyalist has been appointed as the highest lawyer on the Nationwide Safety Company, an indication that the administration is making an atte
A Trump loyalist has been appointed as the highest lawyer on the Nationwide Safety Company, an indication that the administration is making an attempt to assist its political appointees land profession posts that they will keep in even after a brand new president is sworn in, American officers stated.
The appointee, Michael Ellis, had served as a Nationwide Safety Council lawyer and most just lately as its senior director for intelligence. Previously a lawyer for the Republicans on the Home Intelligence Committee, he gained notoriety as one in every of two White Home aides who helped his earlier boss, Consultant Devin Nunes, acquire entry to intelligence experiences in early 2017 to advance President Trump’s political objectives.
Mr. Ellis was one in every of three finalists for the Nationwide Safety Company job. He was chosen by the overall counsel for the Division of Protection, which the Nationwide Safety Company is part of, after White Home officers made clear that Mr. Ellis was their most well-liked candidate, in accordance with an individual briefed on the choice.
Mr. Ellis’s appointment was reported earlier by The Washington Publish.
The 2 different finalists have been the present performing Nationwide Safety Company common counsel, Teisha M. Anthony, and the performing common counsel of the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, Brad Brooker.
The place has been vacant because the earlier common counsel, Glenn S. Gerstell, stepped down in February. The publish is historically apolitical; the Nationwide Safety Company fiercely guards its popularity of being exterior politics, and it’s not clear how properly a partisan lawyer will sit with the workers.
The final counsel job is a Civil Service publish, and it will be tough for President-Elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s administration to take away Mr. Ellis. Nonetheless, Mr. Ellis could possibly be reassigned to a different authorized job within the navy.
The Nationwide Safety Company declined to remark, and the Nationwide Safety Council workers didn’t return a request for remark.
In the summertime of 2019, Mr. Ellis was a deputy to John A. Eisenberg, the Nationwide Safety Council authorized adviser. As White Home officers raised considerations concerning the shadow Ukraine coverage run by Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Eisenberg repeatedly consulted Mr. Ellis about what to do.