Trump’s Top Legal Pick Donald McGahn Called A Foe Of Election Laws

Jill Stein is currently working to recount some of Trump’s votes just as he is tapping Donald McGahn, cited by many for making troubling decisions about election laws, to his top legal White House Counsel staff position.

About Donald McGahn being named as his potential White House counsel, PBS quoted Donald Trump stating McGahn has “a brilliant legal mind, excellent character and a deep understanding of constitutional law.”

However, political disdain for Trump’s relationship with Donald McGahn has a deep history outside of his relationship as Trump’s campaign attorney.

The reasons that Washington has a problem with Donald McGahn begins with his work as a member and chairperson of the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) from 2008 to 2013.

On November 25, NPR paraphrased these negative sentiments towards Trump’s White House pick with the following.

“[Donald McGahn’s] critics argue that [he] mostly made it harder to bring enforcement actions against candidates or political action committees that failed to follow the rules.”

Long before being named as a potential White House counsel member to Donald Trump in late November, Donald McGahn was being criticized before he was named to the FEC.

On July 7, the Boston Globe described Donald McGahn’s potential appointment to the FEC in 2005 as something campaign finance watchdogs objected to.

In 2005, critics placed emphasis on a previous interview where Donald McGahn was quoted as saying, “[The FEC is not] like other agencies because you have… the fox guarding the hen house… You’re going to appoint your guys to make sure you are taken care of.”

In May, Republican election lawyer Jan Witold Baran was quoted by Newsweek stating Donald McGahn’s time at the FEC was “the most consequential of any commissioner.”

Adding to this, in September 2013, the Washington Post quoted Democratic FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub stating the following about Donald McGahn as he exited the FEC.

“He was consequential like a sledgehammer was consequential. He did his best to undermine the law.”

Around April 11, Washington Post said that within Donald Trump’s campaign, Donald McGahn was another “Beltway insider” that “owed their careers to Trump.”

Perhaps the most damning article about Donald McGahn comes from MSNBC and their report from March 23. At the time, they described McGahn as working to neuter the effectiveness of the FEC and was “a crucial player in creating the out-of-control campaign finance system that his boss [Donald Trump] now denounces.”

They also stated that employing Donald McGahn “suggests that Trump’s campaign may intend to tap into other sources of big money, using McGahn’s expertise to push the boundaries of the law.”

Alternatively, Donald Trump has decided on potential cabinet members in the past, and then changed his mind. For example, Trump’s former choice for National Security Adviser was Retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn.

According to NBC News, the public likes Trump’s new pick, K.T. McFarland, because she is Oxford-educated and not allegedly anti-Muslim like Flynn.

In the end, Trump’s picks for cabinet positions or other key government offices may not come to fruition. According to BBC, there are still some that believe that Donald Trump might not be seated officially as President of the United States.

Currently, Jill Stein might prove there were election violations that would take away Trump’s win as president. To date, Jill Stein has won her request to have votes recounted in Wisconsin and has raised $5.3 million of the estimated $7 million needed to pay fees for recounting of votes in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

In addition to a possible vote recount led by Jill Stein, there is also a possibility that the Electoral College will not turn in their votes. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, this idea has been eschewed by many experts.

Despite this, America will not find out if Donald Trump is officially president until the Electoral College turns in their votes on December 19, according to Archives.gov.

[Feature Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]