As a follow up to last Friday’s diary by Laurence Lewis about the White House looking at obscure ethics rule as a means to hamper the Special Counsel’s investigation, the Justice Department ethics experts have cleared Robert S. Mueller to lead the Russia probe, according to the Washington Post:
Justice Department ethics experts have concluded that newly appointed special counsel Robert S. Mueller III can oversee the investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election — even though his former law firm represents several people who could be caught up in the matter, authorities announced Tuesday.
In an email, Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said ethics officials had reviewed the case and “determined that Mr. Mueller’s participation in the matters assigned to him is appropriate.” She said the officials had considered Mueller’s professional obligations and those imposed by government ethics regulations.
As you may recall:
Mueller still had possible conflicts because of his association with the firm, and the Justice Department said at the time it would have to review them. Under a federal ethics regulation, government officials are barred from participating in matters involving their former employers for a year unless they receive a waiver to do so.
In addition, professional responsibility rules prohibit lawyers from representing a client and then later using information they have learned through that work against the client.
Bruce Berman, WilmerHale’s general counsel, told The Washington Post last week that Mueller had no involvement in the representation of Manafort, Kushner or Ivanka Trump, or any client in connection with any Russia-related inquiry.
This cuts off at the knees the Trump Administration’s desperate attempt to undermine the criminal investigation, now led by former FBI Director Mueller.