Don McGahn, the current White House Counsel, seen before a meeting with U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, US on August 21, 2018. (REUTERS File Photo)
WASHINGTON, August 29 (Reuters): President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that White House Counsel Don McGahn will leave his post in the fall after shepherding the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
The relationship between Trump and McGahn, a Washington insider who was chief counsel for Trump's presidential run, has become strained by the pressures of the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. McGahn, one of Trump's earliest appointments to the White House, voluntarily cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller and his team.
"White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court," Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. "I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!"
McGahn's departure was widely expected. He will be the latest in a large number of high-ranking White House officials to leave Trump's side in what has been an unprecedented level of staff turnover.
