The man who controls what comes across Trump's desk

White House staff secretary is president’s right-hand man

- MICHELLE PRICE

Those binders full of executive orders that President Donald Trump has been signing with a flourish and a wide-tipped Sharpie during his first week in office don’t just magically appear before him.

White House staff secretary Will Scharf has been a prominent part of the tableau, standing at Trump’s side and teeing up the leather-bound folders, one by one, for the president. With the cameras rolling, Scharf provides running narration on what Trump is signing, at times leaning into a nearby microphone at the president’s direction.

He was by Trump’s side on Thursday, as the president signed orders and memoranda at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office. And in the first hours of Trump’s return to power, he was there with him at the Capitol, at a nearby rally and at the White House, as the president scrawled his name on stacks of orders implementing his agenda.

Scharf doesn’t just act the straight man as Trump talks up his orders, cracks jokes and fields questions from reporters. He also plays a key role in the White House, overseeing the flow of information and business coming to and from the president.

A look at Scharf and his new job:

The presidential inbox