Jacquelyn Martin / AP
White House counsel Don McGahn smiles as he attends a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018.
Saturday, April 13, 2019 | 2 a.m.
During a recent trip to Las Vegas, former White House counsel Don McGahn offered a glimpse of what is was like to work with President Donald Trump.
McGahn, who last month returned to private practice with international law firm Jones Day, spoke for about 90 minutes Tuesday at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law.
McGahn said the Trump White House, at least while he was there, was run more loosely than some past administrations.
“The president tends to get up, watch TV and read the news in the (White House) residence,” McGahn said. “President Trump sort of lets the day flow a little bit and then locks into what he’s doing. It’s very effective for him.”
In early 2017, McGahn left Jones Day to serve as White House counsel, a job he had for about a year.
“President Trump is not the kind of guy who is a linear kind of thinker,” McGahn said. “He has an entirely different way of approaching decisions. Really, it’s impressive when you see him in action, because he cuts to the chase in ways you just don’t see in a traditional way.”
Most of McGahn’s presentation, which included a short question-and-answer period, was on the process of confirming U.S. Supreme Court nominees.
McGahn, who worked with the White House to select and eventually gain Senate approval for Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, referred to the Kavanaugh Senate hearings last fall as a “media circus.”
Kavanaugh was narrowly confirmed to the high court after a series of often intense public hearings following an accusation of sexual assault in the 1980s.
McGahn said he thinks at least part of the Senate nomination process should include hearings that are closed to the public.
