investigation even though he was never a subject of it. the attorney general has a lot of basically flexibility about whether or not he will recuse himself from something, but i really don t think, you know his refusal or nonrefusal would not affect this policy which is ideological policy not a conflict resolution policy. john: senate republican ted cruz and marsha blackburn believe there is a conflict of interest. they sent a letter to the attorney general which they published as well as saying there could be some conflict with the ethical guidelines here. here is what the doj ethics guideline says, employees prohibited from participating in any matter with a financial interest. in addition to own interest, consider an punitive damage those spouse, and business partners and an employee may not participate without authorization in a particular