Trump names Will Scharf as White House counsel
President Donald Trump announced Aug. 9, 2026, that Will Scharf will become White House counsel, placing a senior administration official in charge of the White House’s principal legal advisory role.
Scharf, who had been serving as White House staff secretary, will replace the current counsel. The announcement did not specify when Scharf will formally assume the position.
The White House counsel is the administration’s central in-house legal adviser. The office helps defend executive actions and advise the president on disputes involving presidential authority, federal law and the role of Congress.
A move with immediate legal significance
Scharf’s appointment comes as the administration faces a court fight over a planned White House ballroom. Before being named counsel, Scharf also headed the National Capital Planning Commission as a Trump appointee.
He was involved in the commission process that approved the ballroom project. The project is valued at approximately $400 million.
A divided federal appeals court has since ordered the administration to stop construction. The court ruled that congressional approval is required before the ballroom can be built.
The administration said it would appeal that ruling. The legal dispute gives the White House counsel a prominent role in one of the administration’s most consequential current questions about presidential authority and congressional oversight.
The appointment itself does not establish that Scharf personally directed or authorized construction of the ballroom. It does connect his previous work at the planning commission with an issue that is now before the federal courts and has raised questions about whether the executive branch can proceed without action by Congress.
Scharf’s path to the counsel’s office
As staff secretary, Scharf served in a White House position that places an official near the flow of documents and decisions across the administration. Trump’s announcement moves him from that coordinating role into a position focused on legal advice and defense of presidential actions.
His separate leadership of the National Capital Planning Commission gave him a role in federal planning matters affecting the nation’s capital. The commission’s approval process for the ballroom project is now part of the broader legal and political dispute over the proposed construction.
The transition also comes at a moment when the administration must respond to a ruling that limits its ability to move ahead with the ballroom without congressional approval. The court’s order makes the project’s next phase dependent on the outcome of the appeal and any required action by Congress.
What happens next
Scharf’s formal start date as White House counsel was not identified in the announcement. The immediate legal step disclosed by the administration is its plan to appeal the federal appeals-court ruling on the ballroom.
That appeal will determine whether construction can resume without congressional approval. Until the court dispute is resolved, the approximately $400 million project remains subject to the order stopping construction.
For the White House, the personnel change combines a change in its top legal adviser with a major unresolved question about the limits of executive power. Scharf’s prior involvement in the commission process means he arrives at the counsel’s office with direct experience of the ballroom matter, while his new responsibilities will extend across the administration’s broader legal disputes.
Sources
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