The recently confirmed son-in-law of Attorney General William Barr has just left his position at the Department of Justice to fill a position in the White House Council Office, raising questions about a possible conflict of interest.
Tyler McGaughey, who is married to Barr's youngest daughter, has unspecified responsibilities in the new job at the White House, CNN reported. The Council Office "advises the President, the President's Executive Office and the White House staff on legal issues related to the President and the White House," says the White House website.
Walter Shaub, who headed the Office of Government Ethics under former President Barack Obama and left his post under President Donald Trump in 2017, told CNN that the situation was "worrisome". This raises "new questions about Barr's independence," he said.
Related: William Barr through the years
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William Barr through the years
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DOSSIER – In this archival photo of 12 November 1991, Attorney General William Barr's candidate is presented at Capitol Hill, Washington. One day, Barr had informed the US government that he could attack Iraq without congressional approval, arrest a fallen foreign dictator, and capture suspects abroad without the permission of that country. These decisions reflect a broad view of the presidential power that Barr, the choice of President Donald Trump to take over his former position as Attorney General, exercised before the Department of Justice and in the years that followed. (AP Photo / John Duricka)
United States President George H. Bush promulgated new civil rights guarantees for women and minorities at a ceremony at the Rose Garden on Thursday, November 21, 1991 in Washington, DC Vice President Dan Quayle, left, and Acting Attorney General William Barr. The signing of the bill put an end to two years of struggle with Congress to see if the legislation encouraged employment quotas. (AP Photo / Marcy Nighswander)
US President George H. Bush, right, and William Barr welcome the proclamation of the new US Attorney General on Tuesday, November 26, 1991, at a ceremony hosted by the Department of Justice in Washington. (AP Photo / Scott Applewhite)
US President George H. Bush takes action by speaking with Attorney General William Barr at the Oval Office of the White House on Monday, May 4, 1992 in Washington. The president met with senior officials of the national cabinet to tackle the long-term issues put forward by last week's deadly riots in Los Angeles. (AP Photo / Marcy Nighswander)
Nicholas Katzenbach, MCI Telecommunications Board Member, second from left, speaks at the Standing Senate Committee on the Judiciary on "The WorldCom Affair: Views on Bankruptcy" and competition "at Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, July 22, 2003. Witnesses are: from the left, Marcia Goldstein, vice president of the Communications Workers' Committee for America, Morton Bahr, vice-president President of the National Bankruptcy Conference, Douglas Baird, Chief of Operations, Cerberus Capital Management, Mark Neporent. (AP Photo / Akira Ono)
Former Georgian Congressman Bob Barr, on the left, listens to William Redpath, National President of the Libertarian Party, answering a question at a press conference in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, October 23, 2007. (Photo AP)
Donald Trump's Attorney General's candidate, William Barr, meets with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, at Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. Barr, who held this position early years to a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week and could be set up at the Department of Justice as early as February when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will leave after Barr's confirmation. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
Donald Trump's Attorney General's candidate, William Barr, on the left, meets with Senate Committee Senator and Senator Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator, RS, Capitol Hill, on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. Barr, who served in the early 1990s, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate decided to hold a confirmation hearing as early as the month of February, when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will step down after the confirmation from Mr Barr. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
President Donald Trump's Attorney General's candidate, William Barr, arrives to meet Senate Committee Member and Sen. Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C, at Capitol, Washington, on Wednesday January 9, 2019. Barr, who served in the early 1990s, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate decided to hold a confirmation hearing as early as February, when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will leave his duties after Mr. Barr's confirmation. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
William Barr, candidate for the Attorney General of President Donald Trump, on the right, meets with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, at Capitol Hill, Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. Barr, who held the position in the early 1990s, to a confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee of the Senate next week and could be in place at the Department of Justice as early as February, when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will step down after confirmation from Mr. Barr. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
The Attorney General's candidate, William Barr, left, turns to answer a reporter's question while he arrives to meet Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., At Capitol Hill on Wednesday January 9, 2019 in Washington. (AP Photo / Alex Brandon)
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Barr, who oversees Special Adviser Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump's campaign in 2016 and interference in Russia's elections, has made it clear that he sees the investigator and Mueller's team politically biased against Trump.
Barr called Mueller's actions "grossly irresponsible" and called his "investigation of potential obstruction of justice" by Trump to be "fatally ill-conceived," the Wall Street Journal reported in December.
Barr was sworn in on Thursday, replacing acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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