These binders filled with government orders that President Donald Trump has been signing with a flourish and a wide-tipped Sharpie throughout his first week in workplace do not simply magically seem earlier than him.
White Home employees secretary Will Scharf has been a outstanding a part of the tableau, standing at Trump’s aspect and teeing up the leather-bound folders, one after the other, for the president. With the cameras rolling, Scharf offers operating narration on what Trump is signing, at occasions leaning into a close-by microphone on the president’s route.
He was by Trump’s aspect Thursday because the president signed orders and memoranda on the Resolute Desk within the Oval Workplace. And within the first hours of Trump’s return to energy, he was there with Trump on the Capitol, at a close-by rally and the White Home because the president scrawled his title on stacks of orders implementing his agenda.
Scharf would not simply act the straight man as Trump talks up his orders, cracks jokes and fields questions from reporters. He additionally performs a key position within the White Home, overseeing the movement of knowledge and enterprise coming to and from the president.
A have a look at Scharf and his new job:
The presidential in-box
The employees secretary’s job has historically concerned managing the papers that cross the president’s desk. It serves virtually as air site visitors management for the West Wing — monitoring the drafting and approval of memos and statements as they work their strategy to the president’s desk after which out to the world.
The “StaffSec” coordinates the work of the White Home coverage, communications and authorized groups as info flows across the constructing, and historically is a impartial arbiter in coverage debates.
The employees secretary has almost unparalleled visibility to the goings-on of the West Wing and leads one of many least-known however most impactful groups in a well-functioning White Home.
Who’s Will Scharf?
Scharf was a member of Trump’s authorized group earlier than becoming a member of the brand new administration. He beforehand labored as a coverage director for former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and on the marketing campaign of 2016 Republican gubernatorial candidate Catherine Hanaway.
He graduated from Princeton and Harvard Legislation Faculty earlier than transferring to Missouri in 2011 to clerk for Decide Raymond Gruender on the eighth Circuit Courtroom of Appeals. He additionally labored as an assistant U.S. legal professional.
Trump tapped Scharf to be his employees secretary in November, citing his expertise as a lawyer on the long run president’s prison instances and Scharf’s work through the first Trump presidency getting judges and justices confirmed. They included U.S. Supreme Courtroom Justices Brett Kavanaugh — who himself served as White Home employees secretary for President George W. Bush — and Amy Coney Barrett.
He helped Trump battle his authorized battles
Scharf joined Trump’s authorized group in October 2023 and was one of many president’s attorneys within the election interference case introduced by particular counsel Jack Smith. The case went earlier than the Supreme Courtroom, which dominated that presidents take pleasure in sweeping immunity from prison prosecution for official acts.
Scharf is amongst a number of of Trump’s attorneys who’ve been rewarded with spots in his new administration. Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who defended Trump at his hush cash prison trial in New York, each bought high-ranking Justice Division posts.
“Will Scharf is a brilliant legal mind who has extensive experience defending President Trump from the witch-hunts against him,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in a press release. “Will is perfectly suited to help execute President Trump’s agenda in this important role.”
It isn’t Scharf’s first time within the public eye
Scharf ran unsuccessfully for Missouri legal professional basic in 2024, dropping to incumbent Andrew Bailey. His marketing campaign included a memorable advert wherein the mild-mannered lawyer seems to make use of a grenade launcher to fireplace on a pile of packing containers that had been labeled to appear like they contained authorized paperwork associated to Trump’s prison instances.
