White House Counsel

2001-2022 | 21 years

In this episode (one of the best in The West Wing), there are many legal situations that the staff is dealing with: CJ is searching for a white house official that leaked information about a policy initiative, and Sam is trying to find out if he could be liable for an oil tanker attained in a deal he brokered which caused an ecological disaster. Meanwhile, The President is trying to find out if he’s “engaged 16 people in a massive criminal conspiracy to defraud the public to win a presidential election.”

When President Bartlet talks to White House Counsel Oliver Babish, Babish tells him that they don’t enjoy attorney-client privilege, and “if subpoenaed to give a deposition, I'm not going to lie under oath”.

The President then replies he doesn’t need to be careful about what he says, because as he puts it, “I never lied”.

Later when discussing how to move forward, Babbish tells the president “order the Attorney General to appoint a Special Prosecutor. Not just any Special Prosecutor - the most blood-spitting, Bartlet-hating Republican in the Bar. He's gonna have an unlimited budget and a staff like an army. The new slogan around here is gonna be "bring it on." He's gonna have access to every piece of paper you ever touched. If you invoke executive privilege one time, I'm gone.”

The President agrees to this, taking his counsel’s advice. Going forward, the White House complies fully with the investigation, even when they are attacking his best friend and Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, and his wife Dr. Bartlet.

Pat Cipollone was former President Trump’s counsel, who recently testified to the January 6th committee. Similar to Babish, when testifying, he can’t lie. However, Cipollone did not answer some questions, using executive privilege.

White House Counsel is meant to be relied on by the President. Presidents are meant to trust and take the advice of their advisors, Cipollone revealed that Trump tried to instill Sidney Powell as White House special counsel to investigate the election and have her use that power to seize voting machines.

In The West Wing, Babish did the right thing and told the truth, just as Cipollone did when testifying. As more hearings come, we will get to find out if President Trump also acted similar to his West Wing counterpart.