{"id":104592,"date":"2018-09-24T14:53:03","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T18:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=104592"},"modified":"2018-09-24T14:53:03","modified_gmt":"2018-09-24T18:53:03","slug":"scalia-protege-and-solicitor-general-noel-francisco-would-take-over-supervision-of-mueller-when-rosenstein-leaves-doj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=104592","title":{"rendered":"Scalia Protege and Solicitor General Noel Francisco Would Take Over Supervision of Mueller When Rosenstein Leaves DOJ"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Solicitor General Noel Francisco to oversee Robert Mueller probe under DOJ succession plan<\/h1>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"590\" height=\"332\" src=\"http:\/\/launch.newsinc.com\/?type=VideoPlayer\/Single&#038;widgetId=1&#038;trackingGroup=69016&#038;playlistId=19132&#038;siteSection=91568_vmpp&#038;videoId=34136027\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" noresize marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By Jeff Mordock &#8211; The Washington Times<\/p>\n<p>With Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein\u2019s ouster, Solicitor General\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/noel-francisco\/\">Noel Francisco<\/a>\u00a0is slated to oversee the Robert Mueller probe under the Justice Department\u2019s succession plan.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Rosenstein\u2019s departure immediately throws Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s Russian collusion probe into chaos. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation leaving Mr. Rosenstein in charge.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, the investigation would fall to the number three spot at the Justice Department, but Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand resigned earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/noel-francisco\/\">Mr. Francisco<\/a>\u00a0in line to oversee the probe, which President Trump has deemed a \u201cwitch hunt.\u201d He hasn\u2019t publicly addressed the probe, but has had harsh words for Mr. Mueller\u2019s close friend, ex-FBI boss James Comey.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/noel-francisco\/\">Mr. Francisco<\/a>\u00a0was confirmed by the Senate in September 2017 on a narrow 50-47 vote, that fell largely along party lines. He once clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, whom he referred to as his \u201cdear mentor,\u201d during his Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n<p>Although\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/noel-francisco\/\">Mr. Francisco<\/a>\u00a0has remained mum on the Mueller probe he now stands to inherit, he has argued against government overreach in political corruption investigations.<\/p>\n<p>He even blasted frequent Trump sparring partner and ex-FBI Director James Comey for \u201cheavy-handed\u201d tactics in the bureau\u2019s probe of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican. Mr. McDonnell\u2019s conviction was vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/noel-francisco\/\">Mr. Francisco<\/a>\u00a0has also accused Mr. Comey of using \u201ckid gloves\u201d in the investigation into Hillary Clinton\u2019s use of a private email server while secretary of state.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to joining the Trump Administration,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/noel-francisco\/\">Mr. Francisco<\/a>\u00a0was a partner at the private law firm\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/jones-day\/\">Jones Day<\/a>, where he argued a number of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, he argued that the Affordable Care Act\u2019s contraceptive mandate infringes upon religious freedom in Zubik v. Burwell.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/noel-francisco\/\">Mr. Francisco<\/a>\u00a0was also a member of the legal team that represented President George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential election recount case.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/noel-francisco\/\">Mr. Francisco<\/a>\u00a0served in the White House Counsel\u2019s Office under President Bush from 2001 to 2003 before becoming a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department\u2019s Office of Legal Counsel from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, he left government to join\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/jones-day\/\">Jones Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2018 The Washington Times, LLC.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2018\/sep\/24\/noel-francisco-oversee-robert-mueller-probe-under-\/\">http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2018\/sep\/24\/noel-francisco-oversee-robert-mueller-probe-under-\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Solicitor General Noel Francisco to oversee Robert Mueller probe under DOJ succession plan By Jeff Mordock &#8211; The Washington Times With Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein\u2019s ouster, Solicitor General\u00a0Noel Francisco\u00a0is slated to oversee the Robert Mueller probe under the Justice &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=104592\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}