From the annals of notable-but-barely news: Attorney General William Barr will not recuse himself from overseeing the special counsel's Russia probe.
“Following General Barr’s confirmation, senior career ethics officials advised that General Barr should not recuse himself from the Special Counsel’s investigation,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Monday. “Consistent with that advice, General Barr has decided not to recuse.”
Democrats questioned Barr on the topic repeatedly during his confirmation hearings after news surfaced that Barr had auditioned for the top law enforcement position by authoring a 19-page memo arguing that Robert Mueller was overstepping his investigative mandate. Of course, Barr admitted in the memo that he was "in the dark about many facts," but Donald Trump's never been one to get hung up on facts. Barr sent the unsolicited memo to the Department of Justice, but also made sure to provide copies to a wide swath of Trump's legal team.
Of course, it's always difficult in this administration to know what ethics officials might have actually advised Barr to do. Reports last year initially suggested that former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker wasn't advised to recuse himself, but in reality, ethics officials had told him it was a "close call" and suggested he recuse himself from the Russia probe just to be safe. Whitaker chose to ignore them.
The person who has been overseeing the Russia probe from the get-go, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, is expected to step down from his position next month. Until then, he will reportedly continue taking part in managing the investigation.