I missed this last August. I was alerted to it just now by Walter Shaub.

People are talking about Bill Shine's ethics waiver. His waiver only covers part of the impartiality regulation (5CFR2635.502). Does NOT cover the extraordinary payment regulation (5CFR2635.503), the criminal conflict of interest statute (18USC208) or the ethics pledge (EO13770). https://t.co/i0zQbJH9bw

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2018

Waiver? thought I. What waiver? So I looked it up.

Oh. That waiver.

It is “in the public interest” for the White House’s top communicator to be excused from federal ethics laws so he can meet with Fox News, according to President Donald Trump’s top lawyer.

Bill Shine, Trump’s newly minted communications director, and Larry Kudlow, the White House’s top economist, who worked at CNBC before his White House post, have both been excused from provisions of the law which seeks to prevent administration officials from advancing the financial interests of relatives or former employers.

So, administration officials, go ahead and advance the financial interests of former employers.

“The Administration has an interest in your interacting with Covered Organizations such as Fox News,” wrote White House counsel Don McGahn in a July 13 memo granting an ethics waivers to Shine, a former Fox executive. “[T]he need for your services outweighs the concern that a reasonable person may question the integrity of the White House Office’s programs and operations.”

Kudlow, a former CNBC host, received a similar waiver allowing him to communicate with former colleagues.

In other words, we want you to do these unethical corrupt things for us, so we’re giving you a waiver from the rule that says you can’t do these unethical corrupt things for us. Slick.