As early as this week, the Trump administration appears poised to gut a “century-old” Justice Department ethics norm that requires the agency’s attorneys to recuse themselves from cases in which they hold a conflict of interest, MeidasTouch News reported Monday.
The move, revealed to MeidasTouch News by “three senior administration sources” who spoke with the outlet on the condition of anonymity, would give the attorney general sole authority over recusals, allowing DOJ attorneys to remain on cases despite potential conflicts.
“Legal experts warn the move would dismantle a century-old norm designed to insulate federal prosecutions from political pressure and personal bias,” wrote MeidasTouch reporter and attorney Aaron Parnas.
“Current DOJ standards require attorneys to step aside from cases that present even the appearance of a conflict of interest, a principle codified in federal statute and reinforced through decades of internal ethics rules. The proposed policy would reverse that presumption entirely, transforming recusal from a duty into a privilege controlled at the top of the department.”
A Trump administration official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, suggested that the decision came from the very top, and that the president viewed the requirement for DOJ attorneys to recuse themselves as an affront to his policy agenda.
“The president believes that conflicts have been used as a weapon by the deep state to slow-walk his agenda,” the official told MediasTouch News. “This rule ensures that the people hired to do a job actually do it.”
Should the Trump administration move forward with its proposal, it would trigger a mandatory public comment period, during which it’s expected to be fiercely challenged by legal experts and critics.