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President Biden on Tuesday said he has chosen Ed Siskel, who shielded President Obama from House Republican probes, to serve as his next White House counsel amid a slew of judicial and congressional investigations.
Mr. Siskel’s appointment comes as Mr. Biden faces a special counsel investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified government documents, a special counsel probing his son Hunter Biden and House Republicans press forward with investigations into the president and his family’s business dealings.
Some Republican lawmakers even have talked about impeaching Mr. Biden, complicating what is already a critical stage in the president’s reelection campaign.
In a statement, Mr. Biden called his new counsel “the perfect choice” for the job.
“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 top counsel for one of America’s biggest and most vibrant cities, his hometown of Chicago,” Mr. Biden said. “Ed has shown a deep commitment to public service and respect for the law. 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.”
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Mr. Siskel, the nephew of the late film critic Gene Siskel, will replace Stuart Delery in September. Mr. Delery last week said he will step down after a little over a year in the role.
Bob Bauer will remain Mr. Biden’s personal attorney. He most notably handled the response to the classified documents found in Mr. Biden’s former Washington office and at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
During his time in the Obama administration, Mr. Siskel managed the White House’s response to House Republicans’ 2011 investigation into the administration’s relationship with Solyndra, a solar energy company that received a government loan and went bankrupt.
He helped draft its defense against GOP lawmakers’ probes into the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate compound in Benghazi, Libya, which left four people dead.
And he oversaw the rollout and response to legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
After leaving the Obama administration, Mr. Siskel worked in private practice and served two years as corporation counsel to former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Before joining the Obama White House, Mr. Siskel was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago and associate deputy attorney general at the Justice Department.
Mr. Siskel’s appointment comes at a difficult time for the president.
House Republicans are investigating whether Mr. Biden abused his office while as vice president to enrich himself and his family. They are also probing newly minted special counsel David Weiss’ role in what whistleblowers say was a Justice Department cover-up in the Hunter Biden investigation.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, this month said Republicans are getting closer to launching an impeachment inquiry, which could start as early as September.
Mr. Biden’s legal team is also in talks with federal prosecutors over the terms of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur, who is investigating the president’s handling of classified documents.
The president has taken few questions from the press over the past week, including canceling an interview with MSNBC, an outlet friendly to his administration, because of fears he would have to answer questions about the special counsel probe.
Mr. Biden has long denied knowing about or discussing business deals with members of his family, despite increasing evidence that he spoke and dined with foreign business associates of Hunter Biden and the president’s brother James Biden.
On Friday, the president laughed off a question about the appointment of a special counsel to look into Hunter Biden’s business affairs.
“I have no comment on any investigation that’s going on,” he said at the White House. “That’s up to the Justice Department. And that’s all I have to say.”
Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, told the House Oversight Committee last month that the first son put his dad on speaker phone during roughly 20 business meetings with foreign associates and that Mr. Biden as vice president had two dinners with his son’s Russian and Ukrainian business partners.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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