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Secret Waiver Clears Possible Donald Trump Russia Rod Rosenstein Replacement | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

"Trump shocks with racist new ad days before midterms"

MSNBC
Published on Nov 2, 2018

Rachel Maddow reports on a Trump White House ethics waiver uncovered by CREW, granted to Noel Francisco who would oversee
the Trump Russia investigation if Rod Rosenstein is fired, even though his former law firm represents the Trump campaign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5fblYb4TQU

Is Sessions gone after the midterms? Rosenstein? If Rosenstein then there has not been a person in the number three position for months, so next in line to take over the Mueller investigation would be the Solicitor General of the United States, Noel Francisco, who took office on September 19, 2017. However, under normal circumstance he would also have to recuse himself (as Sessions did) because he has previously worked for Trump campaign law firm Jones Day. Problem is Trump is a client of Jones Day which Francisco is still a partner. So then we come to the alleged secret waiver designed to open the way for Francisco to take over if Rosenstein is booted. Note: the White House is supposed to maintain an online list of waivers. The ethics waiver for Francisco, signed by WH lawyer McGahn (due himself to leave this fall), was not put on the list. As Rachel says, "A story in itself."

From video:

CREW Discovers Previously Undisclosed Ethics Waiver for Solicitor General Noel Francisco

By CREW Staff
November 2, 2018

CREW has uncovered a previously undisclosed ethics waiver that may represent an effort to clear one of the obstacles to Solicitor
General Noel Francisco replacing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as the official overseeing the Russia investigation.

If Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein either resigns or is fired, someone else will have to oversee the Special Counsel investigation. Next in line appears to be Solicitor General Noel Francisco. The problem is that Mr. Francisco has ties to the pending investigation that should preclude his participation.

For one thing, his former law firm, Jones Day, represents the Trump Presidential Campaign in the Special Counsel investigation. Also, Mr. Francisco has a continuing financial relationship with Jones Day, which owes him more than half a million dollars. In addition, he previously appeared before the Justice Department as a member of a “Landing Team” on behalf of the Presidential Transition Team.

The first of the three obstacles Mr. Francisco faces – his former employment relationship with Jones Day – raises an issue under the Trump ethics Executive Order. As required by that Executive Order, Mr. Francisco signed an ethics pledge in which he promised that, for two years after joining the government, he would not participate in any investigation in which Jones Day represents a client. That promise means he must stay out of the Special Counsel investigation until at least late January 2019.

However, CREW has discovered that the Trump administration issued Mr. Francisco an ethics waiver on April 24, 2018. The waiver relieves him from any obligation to honor his ethics pledge to recuse from investigations involving Jones Day. The waiver states only that he is relieved of this obligation and offers no justification whatsoever. It simply waives the obligation, thereby eliminating one of the three obstacles to his overseeing the Special Counsel investigation.

The waiver is troubling for a couple of other reasons, as well.
https://www.citizensforethics.org/crew-discovers-previously-undisclosed-ethics-waiver-for-solicitor-general-noel-francisco/

and

Dining club emails reveal Kavanaugh's close ties to Trump's solicitor general

New supreme court justice was a member of the Eureka club with Noel Francisco, who argues government cases before court

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
@skirchy
Thu 25 Oct 2018 21.00 AEDT


Brett Kavanaugh attended dinner in 2001-2003 with Noel Francisco and other lawyers
who now regularly appear before the supreme court on behalf of corporate clients.
Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

Brett Kavanaugh, the new supreme court justice, counts the Trump administration’s solicitor general, who will be arguing cases before the high court on behalf of the president, as a close professional friend, according to emails that offer new insights into an all-male dinner club that Kavanaugh used to attend.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/25/brett-kavanaugh-eureka-club-noel-francisco-emails

And earlier

Sessions met with Russian envoy twice last year, encounters he later did not disclose
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129132320

Related:

Next-in-line Mueller supervisor got White House ethics waiver in April


Solicitor General Noel Francisco has long been considered a likely candidate to oversee special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe if there is a shake-up
at the Justice Department. | Cliff Owen/AP Photo

Solicitor General Noel Francisco has been dogged by conflict of interest concerns related his potential role overseeing the the Mueller probe.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/02/mueller-probe-noel-francisco-ethics-waiver-959425

By DARREN SAMUELSOHN 11/02/2018 08:29 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/02/mueller-probe-noel-francisco-ethics-waiver-959425