Robert Mueller. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
On Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein named a special counsel to investigate alleged ties between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia.Rosenstein, whose criticism of FBI Director James Comey was used to justify firing the guy, tapped Robert Mueller, a George W. Bush appointee who served as FBI director himself for over a decade. Notably, from 2003 to 2005, Mueller worked closely with Comey when the latter was a deputy attorney general in the Bush Justice Department.
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The appointment came from Rosenstein and not Attorney General Jeff Sessions because the former US Senator and Trump campaign surrogate recused himself from the case under heavy pressure earlier this year.Rosenstein's statement accompanying the announcement clarifies its significance, emphasizing that the DOJ is not saying anyone has done anything illegal."My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted," he said. "I have made no such determination. What I have determined is that based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command."The appointment comes in the wake of FBI director James Comey's abrupt dismissal last week by President Trump. Until then, Comey had been spearheading the Russia investigation, which began at the FBI all the way back in July of 2016. After a memo showing Trump asked Comey to lay off his former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn went public Tuesday, calls for the president's impeachment ramped up.The special counsel's appointment may also have come as a shock to the White House:
Much like an FBI director, a special counsel—who as the New York Times reports can be named under a rarely-used regulation—can be fired by the president. After Watergate, the United States established a special prosecutor independent from the Justice Department, but the law in question expired in the 1990s.This story has been updated.Follow Mike Pearl on Twitter.