White House counsel Craig announces his resignation

Greg Craig, White House counsel, announced Friday that he’s resigning and will return to private law practice in Washington.
Bob Bauer, who was counsel to President Barack Obama’s campaign, will replace Craig, according to a White House statement.
“Because of Greg’s leadership, we have confirmed the first Latina justice on the Supreme Court, set the toughest ethics standards for any administration in history, and ensured that we are keeping the nation secure in a manner that is consistent with our laws and our values,” Obama said in an e-mailed statement.
Craig, 64, was a partner at Williams & Connolly in Washington before joining the Obama campaign. He headed President Bill Clinton’s defense team when the former president faced impeachment proceedings.
Craig led Obama administration efforts to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In September, stories citing unnamed administration officials said Craig might be dumped because Obama’s January deadline for closing the prison likely will be missed. White House aides, including press secretary Robert Gibbs, discounted the notion.
In his resignation letter to Obama dated Nov. 13, Craig said he was “proud” of the work the legal team had done. He said they made the administration the “most ethical and most transparent in history.”
He said the legal team, along with the National Security Council, “helped develop a legal framework that will deal with threats to our national security in such a way as to protect our nation from harm while remaining true to our most fundamental values.”
Bauer, who is a partner at Perkins Coie, will begin serving as White House counsel by the end of this year.
Bauer is the husband of Anita Dunn, who resigned Nov. 10 as interim communications director. She will remain a White House consultant.
“Bob is well-positioned to lead the counsel’s office as it addresses a wide variety of responsibilities, including managing the large amount of litigation the administration inherited, identifying judicial nominees for the federal courts, and assuring that White House officials continue to be held to the highest legal and ethical standards,” Obama said in the statement.