Trump gives mysterious White House gig to his new AG's son-in-law

Trump sure loves nepotism.

The president who installed his own daughter and son-in-law as senior advisors in his administration — working on projects they are woefully ill-equipped and ill-trained to do — has now hired the son-in-law of one of his top Cabinet officials to work in the White House General Counsel’s office.

Tyler McGaughey, son-in-law to newly minted Attorney General William Barr, will, “advise the president, the executive office, and White House staff on legal issues concerning the president and the presidency,” CNN reported last week.

The move raises serious conflict of interest issues, given that Barr will both oversee special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and have a family member whose job could be directly impacted by any changes in the White House brought on by the results of Mueller’s inquiry.

It’s unclear whether Barr helped install McGaughey in the role. But at the very least, McGaughey working in the Trump White House while his dad oversees a massive investigation that impacts that very same White House looks fishy.

And it looks especially shady given Barr’s previous comments and actions around Mueller’s investigation, which Republicans completely ignored in order to confirm him to the role.

For one, Trump tried to hire Barr as his private defense counsel in the Russia investigation before appointing him attorney general.

And Barr has made some ridiculous and concerning comments, including that he believes an investigation into the fake “Uranium One” conspiracy, which Trump’s favorite Fox News host Sean Hannity loves to push, was more warranted than a probe into the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia.

But who can be surprised that Trump is both into keeping things in the family and trying to dodge accountability in the Russia probe?

He is, after all, thinking of elevating first daughter Ivanka Trump to be U.N. ambassador.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.