Steven Engel


Steven Andrew Engel is an American lawyer who is the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Donald Trump administration. Engel, who previously worked in the George W. Bush administration as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31, 2017, and confirmed on November 7, 2017.

Early life and education

Engel was born on June 29, 1974, in New Hyde Park, New York, a Long Island suburb of New York City. He was raised in Port Washington, New York and graduated as valedictorian from Paul D. Schreiber Senior High School in 1992, earning a bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1996. From 1996–1997, Engel was a Knox Fellow at University of Cambridge. He was awarded a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2000, and then clerked for Judge Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, followed by a clerkship for Justice Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Early career

Engel practiced law at Kirkland & Ellis from 2002 through 2006 before serving as an Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Office of Legal Counsel during the George W. Bush administration from 2006 through 2009. In June 2009, Engel became a partner at Dechert, an international law firm.

Office of Legal Counsel

On January 31, 2017, the White House announced that President Donald Trump intended to nominate Engel to serve as the Assistant Attorney General heading the Office of Legal Counsel. Engel's nomination was opposed by U.S. Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war who was tortured while in captivity. McCain cited Engel's involvement in commenting on and reviewing one of the so-called "Torture memos" that signed off on six different "enhanced interrogation techniques." Various human rights groups expressed concerns about Engel's nomination, also citing his involvement with the July 20, 2007, memo authored by Steven G. Bradbury, then-head of the OLC. Engel was confirmed by a 51–47 vote, largely along party lines with one Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin, voting in favor of confirmation.
In June 2019, Engel issued an OLC opinion supporting the Justice Department's decision not to release Donald Trump's tax returns.
In September 2019, Engel authored the OLC opinion of the Justice Department to not forward the Trump–Ukraine scandal whistleblower complaint to Congress. The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency concluded that Engel's opinion had a "chilling effect on effective oversight" and was "wrong as a matter of law and policy"; urging him to withdraw or modify it.
In a letter dated November 3, 2019, Engel argued that White House advisors have "absolute immunity" from being subpoenaed to testify in the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.