Counselor to the President

The position was created during the administration of Richard Nixon, where it was assigned cabinet rank. It remained a cabinet-level position until 1993.^[1]

During Nixon's presidency, eight people held the position, with there sometimes being two or three concurrent incumbents.

During the presidency of Gerald Ford, the post was shared by longtime communications advisor Robert T. Hartmann and national security aide John O. Marsh, with former United States secretary of commerce Rogers Morton briefly joining them as a domestic policy advisor in early 1976.

The position was vacant during the Jimmy Carter administration, as Carter initially left many senior White House positions unfilled (such as White House chief of staff) and preferred a smaller corps of advisors.^[2]

Edwin Meese held the position during the first term of President Ronald Reagan, and was highly influential inside the White House. Meese, Chief of Staff James Baker and Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver were nicknamed "the troika" and considered the most influential advisors to the president.^[3] Meese became United States attorney general during Reagan's second term as president and the position was left vacant.

The position was left vacant in the first three years of President George H. W. Bush's term. In 1992, it was filled by Clayton Yeutter following his resignation as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

During the Bill Clinton administration, the post became much more focused on communications. Two of Clinton's counselors, David Gergen and Paul Begala, later became CNN political analysts.

During the administration of George W. Bush, the position oversaw the communications, media affairs, speechwriting, and press offices.^[4]

Under the Obama administration, the position was initially abolished and the duties of the office transferred to three senior advisors: David Axelrod,^[5][6] Pete Rouse,^[6][7] and Valerie Jarrett,^[8] who also held the title Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison.^[6] On January 6, 2011, President Obama appointed Rouse as counselor to the president where he was responsible for assisting the president and chief of staff with the day-to-day management of White House staff operations.^[9][10] John Podesta was the last person to hold the position before he left to join the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign of 2016 as chairman.^[11]

Soon after the 2016 election, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to name his campaign manager during the general election, Kellyanne Conway, to the position^[12] and his campaign CEO Steve Bannon as a senior counselor and chief strategist.^[13] With equivalent standing to the chief of staff and a portfolio that hewed closely to the pre-Clinton iteration of the position, Bannon was named to the Principals Committee of the National Security Council in a January 2017 executive order that also removed the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from the committee.^[14] Following vociferous public opposition to the decision, Trump removed Bannon from the council in April 2017.^[15]

After Bannon's departure from the White House in August 2017, Johnny DeStefano was appointed to the job^[16] in February 2018, with responsibility for overseeing the offices of presidential personnel, political affairs, and public liaison.

In February 2020, it was announced that former White House communications director Hope Hicks would return to the White House Office in the role.^[17] In May 2020, White House staff secretary Derek Lyons was also given the title of counselor.^[18]

President Joe Biden named Steve Ricchetti, the chairman of his 2020 presidential campaign, as counselor to the president upon taking office.^[19] Jeffrey Zients was also given the title in his role as White House coronavirus response coordinator.^[20]

Counselors to the President were Cabinet-level officials under Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Jimmy Carter did not name any White House staff as counselor.

More information Name, Start ...

Name		Start	End	Portfolio	Party		Appointer		Ref(s)
	Arthur F. Burns (1904–1987)	January 20, 1969	November 5, 1969	Domestic Policy		Republican		Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
	Bryce Harlow (1916–1987)	November 5, 1969	December 9, 1970	Legislative and Congressional Affairs					[21][22]
	Pat Moynihan (1927–2003)	November 5, 1969	December 31, 1970	Family Assistance Plan		Democratic			[21][23]
	Robert Finch (1925–1995)	June 23, 1970	December 15, 1972			Republican			[24][25]
	Donald Rumsfeld (1932–2021)	December 11, 1970	October 15, 1971	Economic Policy and Advisement					[26]
	Anne Armstrong (1927–2008)	January 19, 1973	December 18, 1974	Women's Programs
	Dean Burch (1927–1991)	March 8, 1974	December 31, 1974						[27][28]
	Kenneth Rush (1910–1994)	May 29, 1974	September 19, 1974	Economic Policy					[29][30]
	Bob Hartmann (1917–2008)	August 9, 1974	January 20, 1977	Presidential Speeches, Statements, Messages and Correspondences				Gerald Ford (1974–1977)	[31]
	John Marsh (1926–2019)	August 9, 1974	January 20, 1977			Democratic			[32][33]
	Rogers Morton (1914–1979)	February 2, 1976	April 1, 1976	Domestic and Economic Policy		Republican			[34]
	Edwin Meese (born 1931)	January 20, 1981	February 25, 1985	Domestic Policy National Security Council				Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
	Clayton Yeutter (1930–2017)	February 1, 1992	January 20, 1993	Domestic Policy				George H. Bush (1989–1993)
	David Gergen (1942–2025)	May 29, 1993	June 10, 1994	Foreign Affairs				Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
	Mack McLarty (born 1946)	July 17, 1994	June 30, 1998	National Economic Council Special Envoy to the Americas		Democratic			[35][36]
	Bill Curry (born 1951)	February 21, 1995	January 20, 1997	Domestic Strategy
	Paul Begala (born 1961)	August 17, 1997	March 10, 1999	Policy, Politics, and Communications					[37]
	Ann Lewis (born 1937)	March 10, 1999	January 20, 2001	Communications
	Karen Hughes (born 1956)	January 20, 2001	July 8, 2002	Communications, Media Affairs, Speechwriting, and Press		Republican		George W. Bush (2001–2009)
	Dan Bartlett (born 1971)	January 5, 2005	July 5, 2007	Strategic Communication and Policy
	Ed Gillespie (born 1961)	July 5, 2007	January 20, 2009	Policy Development and Strategic Planning
	Pete Rouse (born 1946)	January 13, 2011	January 1, 2014	Legislative Affairs		Democratic		Barack Obama (2009–2017)
	John Podesta (born 1949)	January 1, 2014	February 13, 2015	Climate and Energy
	Steve Bannon (born 1953)	January 20, 2017	August 18, 2017	Political Strategy (as Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor)		Republican		Donald Trump (2017–2021)	[38][39][40]
	Kellyanne Conway (born 1967)	January 20, 2017	August 31, 2020	Political and Polling Strategy (as Senior Counselor)					[38][39][41]
	Johnny DeStefano (born 1979)	February 9, 2018	May 24, 2019	Intergovernmental Affairs and Political Affairs					[42][43]
	Hope Hicks (born 1988)	March 9, 2020	January 12, 2021	Strategic Communications					[44][45][46]
	Derek Lyons	May 20, 2020	January 20, 2021	Domestic Policy					[47][48]
	Steve Ricchetti (born c. 1957)	January 20, 2021	January 20, 2025	Legislative and Governmental Relations		Democratic		Joe Biden (2021–2025)
	Jeff Zients (born 1966)	January 20, 2021	April 4, 2022	COVID Response Coordination
	Alina Habba (born 1984)	January 20, 2025	March 24, 2025	Senior Counselor		Republican		Donald Trump (2025–present)	[49]
	Peter Navarro (born 1949)	January 20, 2025	present	Trade and Manufacturing (as Senior Counselor)					[39]
	Stanley Woodward (born 1983)	January 20, 2025	November 14, 2025	Senior Counselor					[39]

Close

• 
  Counselor to the President Donald Rumsfeld confers with President Richard Nixon on the White House grounds
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  President Ford and Counselor Robert T. Hartmann looking over paperwork concerning the selection of a new vice president, 1974
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  President Reagan meeting with Counselor Edwin Meese in the Oval Office
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  Bill Clinton announces the appointment of David Gergen as Counselor to the President, 1993
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  Counselor to the President Karen Hughes and First Lady Laura Bush, June 28, 2002
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  Counselor to the President Dan Bartlett delivering a briefing on President George W. Bush's State of the Union Message, February 3, 2005
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  Counselor to the President Ed Gillespie (right) and Chief of Staff to the Vice President David Addington review a document, December 5, 2007
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  Counselor to the President Pete Rouse, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Vice President Joe Biden talk with President Barack Obama, April 2, 2013
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  Counselor to the President John Podesta meets with President Obama in the Oval Office, January 29, 2015
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  Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway talks to reporters and answers questions outside the West Wing entrance of the White House
• 
  Senior Counselor to the President Steve Bannon appears with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference
• 
  Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti (right) meets with White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and President Joe Biden in the Oval Office, October 2021

• Senior Advisor to the President of the United States
• White House Counsel