Ministry of Justice releases part of Mueller's conflict of interest waiver

The Department of Justice proposes to better understand how it solved potential conflicts of interest when former FBI director Robert Mueller was appointed special advisor to the Trump-Russia investigation there is two years old, but officials continue to keep key elements of their internal ethics analysis secret.

A memo obtained Friday by the pro-transparency organization Property of the People shows that a senior Ethics Officer at the Department of Justice concluded that Mueller's enviable reputation and long experience with the federal service made it unlikely any reasonable person doubting his independence.

History continues below

Cynthia Shaw, head of the justice department of the Justice Department, suggested that such doubts were extremely unlikely. This prediction has proven to be unfounded since President Donald Trump, some of his lawyers and many of his allies have made sustained efforts to portray Mueller as a pirate making a vendetta against Trump on behalf of the Democrats.

"I'm not convinced that an authorization is needed, but unequivocally, the government's screaming need for Mr. Mueller's services far outweighs the fear that a reasonable person may put in place." question the integrity of the department's programs and operations, "said Shaw wrote a memo on May 18, 2017 to Deputy High Schools Attorney General Scott. "I'm not sure that a reasonable person with the relevant facts would question his impartiality."

The key – and perhaps the only – issue of ethics discussed in the memo is whether Mueller's work as a partner of the Wilmer Hale law firm has created a potential conflict because a Wilmer customer participated in the survey.

Shaw does not mention the name of the client, but it seems to be acting from former Trump campaign president, Paul Manafort, represented by Reginald Brown, Wilmer's associate, before Manafort was replaced by another lawyer a few months before his indictment in October 2017.

Mueller "has not represented the current client of the firm who could be involved in the investigation and has no confidential information regarding this client," Shaw wrote.

Wilmer Hale has also done legal work for President's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, primarily on compliance with federal ethics and financial disclosure laws.

The law firm's relationship was just one of the allegedly conflicting Mueller disputes that Trump had complained to his assistants and advisors in the spring of 2017, according to Mueller's latest report. According to the report, Trump raised such complaints with senior advisor Steve Bannon, White House lawyer Don McGahn and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

The three men told Mueller's team that they either rejected requests for, or opposed, the so-called conflicts. Bannon called the claims "ridiculous", while McGahn called them "silly" and "not true". The so-called conflict issue triggered a major quarrel between Trump and McGahn, as well as a dispute over whether Trump had ordered McGahn to have Mueller dismissed on that basis.

In June 2017, one of Trump's personal attorneys called Mueller's office to complain about the alleged conflicts, including Mueller's work for Wilmer Hale, according to the report of the special advocate. Around the same time, Chris Ruddy, a close friend of Trump, gave an interview to Newshour of PBS, decrying the "real conflicts" for Mueller and specifically mentioning the status of Mueller in the law firm.

Yet, just weeks before the public and private storm on the issue, the Ethics Officer of the Department of Justice concluded that there would be no reasonable resistance against Mueller because of his impartiality.

"Mr. Mueller has been a director of the FBI for 12 years," Shaw wrote, "He served the last two years of his term after Congress passed legislation specifically allowing him to serve two years beyond the term of office. He served as the Deputy Attorney General of the Criminal Division, was US Attorney for the Northern District of California, and was appointed to positions of responsibility by the Presidents of both political parties. He has a long-standing reputation for integrity. "

The disclosure of the note is obviously late, more than two years after the appointment of Mueller and about five months after its closure.

This does not preclude the Department of Justice from often seeking to conceal the rationale behind the ethical overrides by separating the nondisclosure from the underlying documents, which is generally treated as a non-disclosure recommendation. under the Freedom of Information Act. .

However, the last two paragraphs of Shaw's note are still almost entirely written as pertaining to Justice's deliberation process.

Jeffrey Light, a Property of the People attorney, said the group could push for these still secret passages. "The case is still ongoing and my client is still thinking about how to proceed," Light told POLITICO.