Noel Francisco, D.C.’s suddenly most important man

OPINION:

Noel Francisco — if reports about the departure of Rod Rosenstein from his deputy attorney general role — is about to become one of the most important men in Washington, D.C.

Why? The solicitor general will be the leading guy in the whole Russia collusion theory the left’s been peddling against President Donald Trump since — well, since the dawn of Trump’s political career.

And he’s hardly as reticent as, say, Attorney General Jeff Sessions to get his political hands dirty.

“Even before he became Donald Trump’s top Supreme Court advocate,” the far-left online Think Progress wrote. “Francisco was a magnet for Trumpian causes. … In the Supreme Court, Francisco convinced the justices to effectively strip President Obama of the recess appointments power. He represented religious conservatives attacking the Obama administration’s efforts to expand access to birth control. And persuaded the Court to legalize many forms of political bribery. In short, Francisco built his law practice as if his primary goal was to troll the libs.”

Here’s another reason the left hates him: Francisco once wrote a commentary decrying how the FBI had treated Hillary Clinton with “kid gloves” for her home-based email server scandal.

And because the associate attorney general role vacated by Rachel Brand is still empty, Francisco will be the guy overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller.

The left is no doubt going to begin its attacks, sending out the message Francisco is a solid pro-Trump partisan and therefore has no right to oversee Mueller on the Russia investigation.

But that’s predictable. Democrats, after all, have yet to come up with a solid campaign message that’ll win them the House and Senate this November. With the incoming fresh face of Francisco overseeing Mueller, they ought to head back to the drawing table. It’s not likely this Russia collusion investigation, absent as it is of any evidence of a Trump tie, is going to last much longer.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.