Former FBI director to lead Russia inquiry

[webfact]

U.S. special counsel named to investigate Trump-Russia ties

By Ayesha Rascoe and Richard Cowan

REUTERS

 

FILE PHOTO - Outgoing FBI Director Robert Mueller reacts to applause from the audience during his farewell ceremony at the Justice Department in Washington, DC, U.S. on August 1, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate possible collusion between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign team and Russia as well as alleged Russian interference in the U.S. election.

 

The move followed a week of turmoil for the White House amid rising demands for an independent probe of alleged Russian efforts to sway the outcome of November's presidential election in favour of Trump and against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

 

Pressure has been building on Trump since his firing last week of James Comey, chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who had been leading a federal probe into the matter.

 

U.S. intelligence agencies said earlier this year that Russia interfered in the U.S. election. Moscow has dismissed the allegations, and the Trump team has denied any collusion with Russia.

 

"My decision (to appoint a special counsel) is not the finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. I have made no such determination," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement.

 

"I determined that a special counsel is necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome," he said.

 

The controversy has caused an uproar in Washington and on Wall Street where the S&P 500 and the Dow had their biggest one-day declines since September as investor hopes for tax cuts and other pro-business policies faded amid the political tumult.

 

Democrats in Congress and some of Trump's fellow Republicans had called for an independent investigation.

 

U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, senior Democrat on the House of Representatives oversight committee, applauded Rosenstein's action, saying: "I think he made a solid choice in Mr. Mueller, and I commend him for putting our country and justice system first."

 

(Additional reporting by Amanda Becker, Mark Hosenball, David Alexander, Doina Chiacu, Patricia Zengerle, Susan Heavey, Richard Cowan and Tim Ahmann in Washington, and Caroline Valetkevitch and Sinead Carew in New York; Writing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-05-18

[Andaman Al]

Outstanding news. Rosenstein has excelled himself.

 

By all accounts Rosenstein did not inform the White House or Sessions of this appointment until after it was signed as being official. So we see at least one member of the Trump Administration step up to the plate and put country before any type of partisan politics.

 

Mueller appears to be a great choice.

 

Now what do the Trump supporters say !!

Edited May 17, 2017 by Andaman Al

[Crowes]

17 minutes ago, Andaman Al said:

Outstanding news. Rosenstein has excelled himself.

 

By all accounts Rosenstein did not inform the White House or Sessions of this appointment until after it was signed as being official. So we see at least one member of the Trump Administration step up to the plate and put country before any type of partisan politics.

 

Mueller appears to be a great choice.

 

Now what do the Trump supporters say !!

 

Fantastic news, until the Democrats don't get the outcome they expected. Let the witch hunt continue.

[Andaman Al]

4 minutes ago, Crowes said:

 

Fantastic news, until the Democrats don't get the outcome they expected. Let the witch hunt continue.

I am not a Democrat so no axe to grind there. Is that why the Republicans had four investigations in to Benghazi  ?

[Grouse]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/17/robert-mueller-trump-russia-investigation-special-counsel

 

useful background

 

Note the Trump family links though....

[Andaman Al]

7 minutes ago, Grouse said:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/17/robert-mueller-trump-russia-investigation-special-counsel

 

useful background

 

Note the Trump family links though....

Quote

One wrinkle in this bipartisan profile, however, is that he was until this week a partner at the law firm WilmerHale. Among the firm’s clients are Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner.

Oh Noooooooooo!

[darksidedog]

Good. Let him turn over every rock. The question about the Russians and Trumps team needs to be fully investigated and the truth of what really happened revealed.

[tonray]

He is a good man. Great choice for this job. I am sure Trump is furious with the deputy AG ....would have loved to see his face when he heard of the special counsel. 

[In the jungle]

1 hour ago, Andaman Al said:

 

 

Now what do the Trump supporters say !!

 

Not up yet.

 

Tired from all that winning.

[funandsuninbangkok]

Good choice

 

will put this to rest so we can get on cutting taxes and size of government. 

 

Hack away President Trump. Drain the swamp and let the Dems scream. 

[pegman]

15 minutes ago, funandsuninbangkok said:

Good choice

 

will put this to rest so we can get on cutting taxes and size of government. 

 

Hack away President Trump. Drain the swamp and let the Dems scream. 

Not so fast. This could go anywhere. Starr started with Whitewater and ended with cum stains on a blue dress. Russian election tampering to start could end with Omarosa with her knee pads on.

[mtls2005]

This is probably good news for Trump.

 

 

At least it seems to forestall Congress calling Comey to testify about Trump's recent efforts impede the investigation.

[selftaopath]

Oh how I hope this ends the nightmare of Trump and his Republican defenders.

[Berkshire]

2 hours ago, Crowes said:

 

Fantastic news, until the Democrats don't get the outcome they expected. Let the witch hunt continue.

5555...."crowing" a little too soon?  Mueller worked closely with Comey for years and had nothing but admiration and respect for him when Comey succeeded Mueller as FBI Director.  I'd imagine he'd listen very closely to what Comey had to say with respect to how Trump treated him.

Edited May 18, 2017 by Berkshire

[pegman]

6 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

5555...."crowing" a little too soon?  Mueller worked closely with Comey for years and had nothing but admiration and respect for him when Comey succeeded Mueller as FBI Director.  I'd imagine he'd listen very closely to what Comey had to say with respect to how Trump treated him.

It's personal!

[55Jay]

Good move and good choice.  FBI needs to be extracted from this political shit storm.  Facts, not opinion and partisan rancor.  Let the chips fall where they may.

[kamahele]

While this is good news that the investigation will be taken out of the Senate and Congress which are controlled by the Republicans who have blocked proper inquiries, it will slow down and turn silent as it will become a secret affair. Americans may never know what the facts of the case and perhaps only if Trump or members of his staff have been indicted or not. I'm quite sure there will be less leaks coming from this special prosecutor's office than have been coming from the White House. 

[Juan B Tong]

GREAT!  More conversation fodder for the sox and sandal wearing Trump bashers sitting in their pubs.

[Traveler19491]

I suspect that Rosenstein is covering his butt. Since Sessions "recused" himself from anything having to do with any investigation into possible Russian interference in our election (but had no problem inserting himself into the decision to fire Comey, a likely violation of that oath), Rosenstein was handed the power and ability to freely appoint an independent counsel without having to first get approval from the Oval Office. The White House tried very hard to set Rosenstein up to take the fall for the political backlash over Comey's firing. Rosenstein certainly is not a stupid man. "Burn me once, shame on you; burn me twice, shame on me". I see a possibility of Rosenstein engaging in "payback" as well as insulating himself from any future fallout if and when everything goes south. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

[Somtamnication]

I'm peached that he was appointed. Now for the truth.........

[pegman]

10 minutes ago, Traveler19491 said:

I suspect that Rosenstein is covering his butt. Since Sessions "recused" himself from anything having to do with any investigation into possible Russian interference in our election (but had no problem inserting himself into the decision to fire Comey, a likely violation of that oath), Rosenstein was handed the power and ability to freely appoint an independent counsel without having to first get approval from the Oval Office. The White House tried very hard to set Rosenstein up to take the fall for the political backlash over Comey's firing. Rosenstein certainly is not a stupid man. "Burn me once, shame on you; burn me twice, shame on me". I see a possibility of Rosenstein engaging in "payback" as well as insulating himself from any future fallout if and when everything goes south. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Remember, Trump was pissed that Sessions bowed out of the Russian investigation without notifing him. Makes one wonder if he was also told to back off so he passed the buck. 

[pmarlin]

Again the news has it wrong, It's about Russian influence of the last presidential election. Not a Trump Russian investigation.  Including the leaking of the Clinton emails and that might lead to something that will make the democrats very unhappy. If I was Hillary I would worry.  The investigation will clear Trump's name and the Democrats will have to find another nothing to complain about.  The only thing Trump is guilty of is winning the election.

[ilostmypassword]

6 minutes ago, pmarlin said:

Again the news has it wrong, It's about Russian influence of the last presidential election. Not a Trump Russian investigation.  Including the leaking of the Clinton emails and that might lead to something that will make the democrats very unhappy. If I was Hillary I would worry.  The investigation will clear Trump's name and the Democrats will have to find another nothing to complain about.  The only thing Trump is guilty of is winning the election.

 

So that's why Trump wanted the investigation to halt. He was concerned for Hillary Clinton's. 

[smotherb]

5 hours ago, Crowes said:

 

Fantastic news, until the Democrats don't get the outcome they expected. Let the witch hunt continue.

Or what will happen with the Republicans if collusion is found--more complaints of fake news and partisan politics?  Let's find out what happened before we start another campaign of we're right you're wrong.

[smotherb]

57 minutes ago, pmarlin said:

Again the news has it wrong, It's about Russian influence of the last presidential election. Not a Trump Russian investigation.  Including the leaking of the Clinton emails and that might lead to something that will make the democrats very unhappy. If I was Hillary I would worry.  The investigation will clear Trump's name and the Democrats will have to find another nothing to complain about.  The only thing Trump is guilty of is winning the election.

Another mindless blind soul. There has yet to be any determination in this investigation accept that it ought to me made--something Trump seemed to want to avoid. The investigation does, or should, involve any collusion with Russia with regard to the election or leakage of classified material; including the recent closed meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the US.

 

 

[Farang hunter]

In your dreams a president can be impeached or even an official be prosecuted, the old days are gone pals

 

 

[Jingthing]

What bothers me somewhat about the way this is going is that it seems that all the focus is on a limited area. The already known Russian attempts to influence the U.S. election towards trump and the much more serious possibility (not proven at all) of direct collusion between trump and/or trump campaign associates/family in this known Russian effort.

Of course also, the Comey connection (firing obviously related to the Russia investigation)and possibility that Comey's notes may point to an actual obstruction of justice case.

All well and good, but there is so much MORE that deserves investigation about the trump regime and potentially impeachable crimes.

Namely, the financial corruption angle. The obvious reality that the trump family business empire is profiting greatly from his presidency. At a minimum, they should force that the trump taxes be released.

Edited May 18, 2017 by Jingthing

[Becker]

I think it's time to look beyond appointing a special council and look at appointing a legal guardian to the man-child. Someone needs to put him over his knees and give him the mother of all spankings.

[Berkshire]

13 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

What bothers me somewhat about the way this is going is that it seems that all the focus is on a limited area. The already known Russian attempts to influence the U.S. election towards trump and the much more serious possibility (not proven at all) of direct collusion between trump and/or trump campaign associates/family in this known Russian effort.

Of course also, the Comey connection (firing obviously related to the Russia investigation)and possibility that Comey's notes may point to an actual obstruction of justice case.

All well and good, but there is so much MORE that deserves investigation about the trump regime and potentially impeachable crimes.

Namely, the financial corruption angle. The obvious reality that the trump family business empire is profiting greatly from his presidency. At a minimum, they should force that the trump taxes be released.

I'm no expert, but it seems that a Special Prosecutor has broad discretion.  An example is Bill Clinton.  In that case, they started with the Whitewater investigation and ended up with Monica Lewinsky.  I believe the letter appointing Mueller also states that he can pursue any matters that may arise from his investigation.  Even if someone was squeaky clean, they'd have to be a little worried.  Trump is not squeaky clean.  The Special Prosecutor has significant authority and an unlimited budget.  He can force Trump to testify under oath or subpoena his tax records.  If I was Trump's lawyer, I'd strongly encourage him to resign before he gets indicted. 

[dunroaming]

Let's just see how this pans out.  Both sides will have their opinions once there is a result and I doubt either will admit they got it wrong.