United States Assistant Attorney General T. Elliott Gaiser is going to be a very busy man in 2027. Before the new Congress arrives in January, President Donald Trump should require Gaiser and his team to provide detailed answers to a few very important questions of law.
On Friday, November 6, at 3:29 p.m., Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee, posted a threat barely disguised as advice directed at new White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller: “Steven Miller should lawyer up.”
At 6:10 p.m. that same day, United States Attorney General Todd Blanche posted a response: “The Chief of Staff already has a lawyer. The Attorney General of the United States and the Department of Justice.”
LAWYER UP: DEMS IMMEDIATELY PUT TRUMP ON NOTICE AMID REPUBLICANS’ MIDTERM BLOODBATH
Welcome to the next two years. There is an epic clash coming between the powers of Congress under Article I of the Constitution and the powers of President Trump under Article II. The Supreme Court will referee the clash, but it will start soon, and one of the key participants will be Mr. Gaiser, the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).
OLC is the division of the U.S. Department of Justice that serves as the principal legal adviser to the president and the executive branch. AAG Gaiser was confirmed by the Senate on July 30, 2025. By all accounts, he is a brilliant lawyer. Gaiser helms an office of about two dozen lawyers who are collectively widely regarded as among the top legal minds in the country. The office is a mix of career and political appointees, but all are serious legal scholars.
OLC tackles questions President Trump or Attorney General Blanche require it to answer, and it can also supply answers to questions from Cabinet officers and military leaders, as time allows and the president and the AG permit. The Supreme Court does not issue advisory opinions on possible controversies that have not reached it at all or that are premature (cases that are not yet “ripe” for decision), but OLC does.
One recent example: On August 10 of this year, OLC opined that “executive privilege can apply to presidential communications with private advisers so long as the communications (1) relate to official presidential decision making, (2) involve or reflect communications with the President or his direct advisers, and (3) are confidential.”
AG BLANCHE CLASHES WITH ANCHOR ASKING WHETHER IT’S HIS ‘JOB’ TO DEFEND THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
There is going to be a raft of additional executive privilege questions incoming, as the new Democratic majorities cannot immediately compel testimony about matters over which President Trump has asserted “executive privilege.” But there are other pressing questions about “court packing,” statehood for the District of Columbia and the constitutionality of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact that can be asked and answered by OLC before th
