Official: Craig To Step Down As White House Lawyer

The White House's top lawyer is announcing his resignation on Friday, senior administration officials said.

White House counsel Greg Craig has been the subject of questions about his future since late summer, dogged by talk that President Obama's promise to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay military prison by January went awry under Craig's leadership.

Craig also oversaw the president's revamping of U.S. policy on terrorism interrogations and detentions, including a ban on torture, and was at the center of administration moves to release many documents relating to the treatment of terror suspects under the Bush administration — and to oppose the release of photos of abuse of detainees overseas by U.S. personnel. All those decisions earned Obama considerable criticism, some from the right and some from the left.

Bob Bauer, who was general counsel on Obama's presidential campaign and a longtime adviser to Obama, has agreed to take Craig's place, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement, first reported by The Washington Post, has not yet been made.

As speculation about Craig has heightened, White House officials maintained that the likable lawyer retained Obama's confidence. However, they also noted privately that Craig had never intended to stay at the White House longer than a year. It had been expected he would then move to another prestigious job, such as an ambassadorship or judicial posting.

Craig's planned resignation became public just as Obama landed in Tokyo for a weeklong tour of east Asia.

Craig would be the highest-ranking departure so far in Obama's 10-month presidency. In the first sign of the coming shake-up, Craig's deputy, Cassandra Butts, was moved last week out of that job to be senior adviser at Millennium Challenge Corporation, an aid program for developing countries that was created under the Bush administration.

Craig is perhaps best known for his work in a previous White House, as former President Bill Clinton's chief defender during his 1998 Senate impeachment trial. Later, Craig became one of the earliest Clinton allies to sign on to Obama's presidential campaign, during the Democratic primaries against Hillary Clinton.