President-elect Barack Obama's choice for White House counsel is Gregory B. Craig, an attorney best known for leading President Bill Clinton's legal defense team against impeachment efforts and for representing Elian Gonzalez's father in the international custody dispute over the Cuban boy in 2000.
According to Politico.com, Craig was Obama's foreign policy adviser during the presidential campaign and also prepped Obama before debates by playing the role of Sen. John McCain.
As White House counsel, Craig will act as Obama's lawyer, responsible for advising him on all legal aspects of policy questions, legal issues arising in connection with the president's decision to sign or veto legislation, ethical questions, financial disclosures and conflicts of interest.
Craig, 63, is a partner at the high-powered law firm of Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C.
In the past, Craig has served as adviser to Sen. Ted Kennedy and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. He also has represented John Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan during a probe into the agency's oil-for-food program.
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