Ex-FBI Chief Robert Mueller Named Special Prosecutor for Russiagate

From: kenneth in the (212)

 It's a start. I don't know about you, but I want to know if our so-called president is on Putin's "payroll." House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy can say he was "joking" when he said he thought Trump was all he wants. (No one thinks he meant what he said literally.) But the conversation was before the conventions -- and came just as we learned about the DNC hacking. Paul Ryan totally freaked out and shut the conversation down and tried to exact oaths of silence -- would anyone do that over a "bad joke"?

 The New York Times reports:

The Justice Department has appointed Robert S. Mueller III, the former F.B.I. director, to serve as a special counsel to oversee its investigation into Russian meddling in the election, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced on Wednesday.  

The appointment of Mr. Mueller dramatically raises the stakes for Donald Trump in the multiple investigations into his campaign’s ties to the Russians. It follows a swiftly moving series of developments that have roiled Washington, including Mr. Trump’s abrupt dismissal of the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, and the disclosure that the president urged Mr. Comey to drop the bureau’s investigation into his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn.

“I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authorities and appoint a special counsel to assume responsibility for this matter,” Mr. Rosenstein said in a statement. “My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. I have made no such determination.”

While a special counsel would remain ultimately answerable to Mr. Rosenstein — and by extension, the president — he would have greater autonomy to run an investigation than a United States attorney.