Noel Francisco, the current solicitor general, is next in line to take charge of the Mueller investigation should President Trump fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein when the two men meet at the White House Thursday.
Francisco would step into the role of acting attorney general on this specific matter because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself.
USA Today has a look at what we know about Francisco, including the potential conflict of interest that may lead him to recuse himself too.
Until his most recent government appointment, Francisco, 49, was a partner at Jones Day, a well-connected law firm with international clients, where he was the chair of the firm’s Government Regulation Practice.
He was at the firm when it represented the president's 2016 campaign though there's no evidence he worked on any campaign-related matters. Still, being at the firm is enough to disqualify him from managing the Mueller probe, according to a tweet Monday from Walter Shaub, the former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
Neal Katyal, a private attorney who served as acting solicitor general from May 2010 until June 2011 under President Barack Obama, wrote in a tweet Monday that Francisco already "has been recusing from matters in which his former law firm is involved."
If Francisco recused himself, experts such as Katyal say the line-of-succession rules mean the Russia probe would fall under the associate attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel, a post now occupied by Steven Engel.
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In his role as solicitor general, Francisco argues regularly before the U.S. Supreme Court representing the government's interests. The person who holds that job is often referred to as the "10th justice."
But before his latest gig, he represented former Virginia Republican Gov. Robert McDonnell, whose conviction on charges of corruption was unanimously overturned by the nation's highest court in 2016.
As a private lawyer, Francisco also represented religious nonprofits whose battles against having to offer insurance coverage for contraceptives under the Affordable Care Act were given another chance before lower courts.
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From 2001 to 2003, Francisco served as an associate counsel to President George W. Bush. From 2003 to 2005, he also served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, according to his profile on the solicitor general's website.
Francisco is of Filipino descent and gave a speech in May where he spoke about how his father served as his greatest inspiration.
Francisco is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School.
Noel Francisco: What to know about the man who might replace Rod Rosenstein in Russia probe (USA Today)