Fate of White House Counsel Is in Doubt

By PETER BAKER

WASHINGTON — Every morning, Gregory B. Craig, the White House counsel, sits at the conference table of the Roosevelt Room with the rest of the president’s senior staff members.

His colleagues greet him, friendly as always. He updates the room on his issues and listens as they update him on theirs.

The one issue that does not come up? Mr. Craig himself.

As President Obama’s top lawyer, Mr. Craig has been at the center of thorny decisions on closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and revising interrogation and detention policies, problems that have bedeviled the new administration and generated fierce battles inside and outside the White House. And for months now, he has endured speculation in print and around the White House about whether he is on the way out.