The Significance of Trump’s Secret Waiver Involving the Mueller Investigation
With almost all media outlets being dominated by everything that has to do with the midterm elections on Tuesday, including the speeches made by current President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama, there are things a few might have missed — the significance of Trump’s secret waiver dated April 24, 2018 to the Robert Mueller Investigation.
Robert Swan Mueller III is the longest-serving FBI Director since J. Edgar Hoover and is currently the head of the Special Counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and related matters.
President Trump signed an Executive Order after being elected into office in 2017 that claims to strengthen ethics revolving around the government. The Executive Order involves Solicitor General Noel Francisco, the man who is next in line to take over Mueller’s probe if Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein either resigns or gets fired by Trump.
Francisco signed an ethics pledge which promises that he would, for two years, not take part in any investigation involving a client of Jones Day, his former law firm and the representative of the Trump Presidential Campaign in the Special Counsel investigation. That promise implies that he cannot participate in the Special Counsel investigation until at least January 2019.
However, last Friday, the Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility (CREW) revealed that Trump ordered a waiver signed by former White House Counsel Don McGahn involving Francisco, which is troubling because he, too, is involved with Jones Day and has promised not to participate in any investigation represented by the law firm. The waiver implies that Francisco is now free to supervise Mueller with the investigation involving his former employer.
Even more questionable, Francisco is not included in the list of people on the government website which includes appointees who received limited waivers to the Ethics Pledge required by Executive Order 13770.
