OAN’s Brooke Mallory
3:06 PM – Monday, August 21, 2023
President Biden has named Ed Siskel as his new White House counsel, a veteran of the Obama-Biden administration who defended then-President Obama during House Republicans’ investigations into Benghazi and Solyndra.
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“Ed Siskel’s many years of experience in public service and a career defending the rule of law make him the perfect choice to serve as my next White House Counsel,” Biden said in a statement on Tuesday. “For nearly four years in the White House when I was Vice President, he helped the Counsel’s Office navigate complex challenges and advance the President’s agenda on behalf of the American people, and first as a federal prosecutor and then as the top counsel for one of America’s biggest and most vibrant cities, his hometown of Chicago, Ed has shown a deep commitment to public service and respect for the law,” he continued.
Siskel’s new role comes as the president faces a special counsel investigation into his purported mishandling of classified documents, a special counsel investigation into his son Hunter Biden, and other additional investigations into him, his son, and the origins of COVID-19 by House Republicans.
Many GOP officials also called for Biden’s impeachment.
The White House said on Tuesday that Biden has chosen Siskel, who rose to the position of deputy counsel during his almost four years in the White House Counsel’s Office, to succeed current counsel Stuart Delery, who will retire in September.
The change in Biden’s top legal counsel comes as Republican-led investigations against the president and the Biden family continue to heat up.
“His experience will let him hit the ground running as a key leader on my team as we continue making progress for the American people every day,” Biden maintained.
In the past, Siskel assisted the Obama administration in navigating congressional investigations and “other political land mines,” such as the solar panel business Solyndra, which received government assistance, as well as the terrorist assaults on the U.S. Consulate complex in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Additionally, Siskel previously managed the implementation and subsequent legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “ObamaCare.”
He will reportedly “lead a team serving the President with counsel on legal matters facing the White House and the country,” as well as assist in the development of policies and administrative actions to achieve Biden’s agenda, according to the White House.
In November 2020, Siskel joined Biden’s transition team before becoming deputy counsel.
After Biden’s first counsel, Dana Remus, left the White House, he was then appointed to the top role in 2022.
Delery was responsible for overseeing the legal foundation of the Inflation Reduction Act, the president’s centerpiece environmental legislation, as well as assisting Biden in crafting his failed student loan giveaway executive order last year, which was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court.
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