Will Scharf
On September 1, 2026, Will Scharf became White House counsel, making him US President Donald Trump’s top White House lawyer at a time of sweeping legal battles over executive authority – and with the midterm elections potentially bringing renewed congressional investigations.
It’s a striking rise for an aide who entered the administration as White House staff secretary, a deceptively powerful role that placed him at the center of the documents, memoranda, and executive orders reaching the president’s desk. He also became a familiar face at presidential signing ceremonies, frequently standing beside Trump and explaining the substance of executive actions to reporters.
The elevation caps a legal career closely tied to Trump’s political movement. A former federal prosecutor, Scharf joined Trump’s personal legal team in 2023 and worked on some of the former president’s major cases, including the presidential immunity dispute that reached the Supreme Court. He had earlier been involved in the confirmation efforts for conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Scharf’s Jewish identity is a visible part of his public life. Raised in a Modern Orthodox family, he has said he puts on tefillin daily and attends Chabad services on Shabbat. At 40, he has moved from courtroom advocate to presidential gatekeeper and now to one of the most sensitive legal positions in the executive branch.
Lee Zeldin
In February 2026, the EPA repealed the 2009 Endangerment Finding – the legal predicate for EPA greenhouse-gas standards for new motor vehicles and engines – and rescinded the federal standards that had followed from it. The EPA called it the largest deregulatory action in US history; environmental and public-health groups described it as an assault on a central pillar of federal climate policy and challenged it in court. However the move is judged, it shows how aggressively Lee Zeldin has transformed the mission of the agency he now runs.
A former four-term New York congressman and 2022 gubernatorial nominee, Zeldin is also an army veteran who served in Iraq and retired from the reserves in 2025 as a lieutenant colonel after 22 years.
His Jewish identity has remained visible in government. Zeldin became the first Jewish administrator in EPA history, and in May 2025, he affixed a mezuzah to the door of his executive office. In Congress, he was an outspoken supporter of Israel, opposing the Iran nuclear agreement and criticizing the BDS movement.
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