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Former FBI Director Mueller appointed special counsel for Trump-Russia investigation

N

Nazgul_Hunter

Member
DAD5tubUMAAWUN0.jpg


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Justice Department to appoint special counsel to take over Russia probe


Former FBI director Robert Mueller will be appointed as special counsel to take over the Russia investigation.

The appointment was made by Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general.

The move comes amid concerns about the independence of the investigation.

Bowing to public and Congressional pressure, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Bob Mueller on Wednesday to be a special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, Justice Department officials said.

Mueller will take command of the prosecutors and FBI agents who are working on the far reaching Russia investigation, which spans multiple FBI field offices on both coasts.

Mueller led the FBI for 12 years under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

The FBI, with the help of the Treasury Department, the CIA and other agencies, has been examining evidence of possible contacts, money transfers and business relationships between a variety of President Trump's associates and Russian officials, sources say.

The investigation goes well beyond a possible American connection, to include how Russian intelligence services carried out the campaign of fake news and leaking hacked emails that intelligence officials say was meant to hurt Hillary Clinton and benefit Trump.

....

The last special counsel was Patrick Fitzgerald, who was tapped in 2003 to investigate the leaking of a CIA operative's name.

Link
 
F

ForsakenLotus

Member
This is great news. If Congress doesn't step up their investigations very soon an independent counsel will also be necessary. I'm for it now, but I understand why Congress would be so apprehensive.
 
B

BobTheFork

Member
Who appointed him? I honestly don't know but I thought special counsel was something the R's were trying to avoid....or is that a special investigator or prosecutor?
 
H

Hickbilly Deluxe

Banned
On one hand, Trump shouldn't be president as he's a fucking loon at best.

On the other hand, watching people howl and screech if this turns up nothing will be entertaining.

I'm kinda torn here...
 
G

giga

Member
Independent counsel/special prosecutor:

Congress may also have a legislative role in designing a statutory mechanism for the appointment of “independent counsels” or “special prosecutors,” as it did in title VI of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. Under the provisions of that law relating to the appointment of “independent counsels” (called “special prosecutors” until 1983), the Attorney General was directed to petition a special three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals to name an independent counsel upon the receipt of credible allegations of criminal misconduct by certain high-level personnel in the executive branch of the federal government whose prosecution by the Administration might give rise to an appearance of a conflict of interest. In 1999, Congress allowed the “independent counsel” provisions of law to expire. Upon the expiration of the law in June of 1999, no new “independent counsels” or “special prosecutors” may be appointed by a three-judge panel upon the application of the Attorney General.
Click to expand...

Special counsel:

The Attorney General retains the general authority to designate or name individuals as “special counsels” to conduct investigations or prosecutions of particular matters or individuals on behalf of the United States. Under regulations issued by the Attorney General in 1999, the Attorney General may appoint a “special counsel” from outside of the Department of Justice who acts as a special employee of the Department of Justice under the direction of the Attorney General. The Attorney General, however, may also appoint an individual as a special counsel, and may invest that individual with a greater degree of independence and autonomy to conduct investigations and prosecutions, regardless of any “special counsel” regulations, as Attorneys General did in 1973, 1994, and 2003. In 1973, Attorney General Elliot Richardson named Archibald Cox to be the “special prosecutor” for the “Watergate” investigation; in 1994, during an earlier expiration of the independent counsel provisions of law, Attorney General Janet Reno named a “regulatory” independent counsel Robert Fisk to investigate allegations concerning the matter known as “Whitewater”; and in 2003, Attorney General Ashcroft recused himself from the investigation of the leak of the identity of a CIA agent, and Deputy Attorney General Comey named U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to be special counsel “with all the authority of the Attorney General” to pursue that matter.
Click to expand...

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43112.pdf
 
N

Nafai1123

Banned
I don't think Rosenstein had a choice. He knew he was gonna be in deep shit if he had Comey's memos and still supported his firing.
 
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