Solicitor General Noel Francisco, the Justice Department official in line to become special counsel Robert Mueller’s new supervisor if there’s a DOJ shakeup, obtained White House approval this year on what critics say is a potential ethics hurdle that could have kept him from assuming the high-profile role, Politico reports. Francisco is considered a likely candidate to oversee Mueller’s Russia probe if Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is fired or quits. The conservative lawyer has been dogged by conflict of interest concerns because he previously worked as a partner at Jones Day, the same law firm that represents the Trump’s presidential campaign in the Russia probe.
Officials at the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have been arguing for months that to oversee the Mueller probe, Francisco would require a White House waiver to circumvent a Trump executive order that decreed employees must recuse themselves from work on any matters involving previous employers going back two years. It turns out that Francisco got a White House waiver of that type in April. A CREW official said the group learned about the waiver on Friday after the Justice Department responded to its request for the document. CREW called the waiver “troubling” because it isn’t posted on an Office of Government Ethics website that lists 28 other Trump administration officials who have so far received waivers to work on matters related to their previous employers.