WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump announced on Aug 9 that Will Scharf, his staff secretary and a deeply conservative lawyer, would replace David Warrington as White House counsel, one of the few major changes in West Wing personnel since Trump returned to Washington.

Scharf has embraced some of the most extreme elements of the president’s agenda.

But he has also thrown up flares at times over matters that, according to his colleagues, he believed could imperil the presidency.

Those included when Trump and his top policy adviser, Stephen Miller, weighed suspending due process rights for immigrants who lack legal residency status in early 2025.

Trump announced the plan on his social media website, saying that Scharf would begin in September.

The move reflects one of the biggest changes in senior staff of the president’s second term, which has been relatively stable compared with the revolving door of his first four years in the White House.

Trump said that Warrington, who served as the general counsel of his 2024 campaign, had “done a truly outstanding job.”

Trump also said he knew Scharf “well,” noting that Scharf had worked on his personal legal team while Trump faced numerous criminal and civil cases during his four years out of office.

Scharf ran unsuccessfully for attorney-general of Missouri before the second Trump term.

Trump did not say who would succeed Scharf as staff secretary.

The role, a vital one in the White House, is supposed to serve as the last stop for paper flow to the president, although Trump’s allies have repeatedly found ways to bring him information through other channels during both of his presidential terms.

Scharf previously served as a federal prosecutor, as well as a clerk for two federal judges.

He was part of the team that worked on arguments before ...