Russia allegations get special counsel
Ex-FBI director to lead probe into Trump campaign-Russia ties.
Besieged from all sides, the Trump administration relented Wednesday evening and appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee the federal investigation into allegations Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign collaborated to influence the 2016 presidential election.
The appointment came as Democrats insisted that someone outside Trump’s Justice Department must handle the politically charged investigation. Republican congressional leaders had resisted the idea, and there had been no clear sign that Trump or his top White House aides were about to announce it.
However, an increasing number of Republicans had endorsed the call to dig deeper, especially after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey — and after Comey associates said he had made notes of a meeting in which Trump asked him to drop the FBI’s investigation.
Early reaction from Congress to the appointment of Mueller was generally positive. Democrats
said it was not a moment too soon, though they also expressed caution.
Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz of Utah said Mueller was a “great selection. Impeccable credentials. Should be widely accepted.”
Fellow Republican Peter King of New York was more leery because of the broad authority special prosecutors have. He said, “I’m worried with all special counsels because there’s no control over them and they can abuse their power.”
In the 1990s, Democrats complained that independent counsel Kenneth Starr, whose investigation of President Bill Clinton led to his impeachment, had overstepped his authority.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump gave no indication of the announcement to come in a commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy.
He made no reference to the controversies about Russia or the Russia ties for fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn or Comey’s dismissal. But he complained bitterly that about criticism of his still-young presidency.
“No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly,” he said. “You can’t let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams. … I guess that’s why we won. Adversity makes you stronger. Don’t give in, don’t back down. … And the more righteous your fight, the more opposition that you will face.”
On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, three congressional committees, all led by Republicans, confirmed they wanted to hear from Comey. Congressional investigators have been seeking Comey’s memos on his meeting with Trump, as well as documents from the Justice Department related to his firing.
The latest political storm — coupled with the fallout from the revelation that Trump had disclosed classified information to Russian diplomats in a White House meeting the day after firing Comey — overshadowed all else in the capital and beyond. Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street as investors worried that the latest turmoil in Washington could hinder Trump’s pro-business agenda.
Republicans, frustrated by the president’s relentless parade of problems, sought to cool the heated climate with assurances they would get to the bottom of scandals.
“There’s clearly a lot of politics being played,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said before the announcement of Mueller’s appointment. “Our job is to get the facts and to be sober about doing that.”
Unimpressed, Rep. Elijah Cummings, top Democrat on a key House oversight panel, said, “Speaker Ryan has shown he has zero, zero, zero appetite for any investigation of Donald Trump.” Cummings accused the Republicans of taking great pains to “do as little as humanly possible, just to claim that they’re doing something.”
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, went even further, taking to the House floor to call for Trump’s impeachment, saying “our democracy is at risk.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin also weighed in, calling the dramatic charges swirling around Trump evidence of “political schizophrenia spreading in the U.S.” He offered to furnish a “record” of the Oval Office meeting if the White House desired it.
There was no word about what that record might entail, a question many were likely to raise in light of Trump’s recent warning to Comey that he had “better hope” there were no tapes of a discussion they’d had.
The White House disputed Comey’s account of the February conversation concerning Flynn but did not offer specifics. Several members of Congress said that if Trump did suggest that Comey “let this go” regarding the investigation of Flynn’s Russian contacts, it was probably just a joke or light banter.
Questions about Trump’s conduct have been mounting for weeks, becoming Washington’s central issue after the allegation that in February the president pressed Comey to drop the federal investigation into Flynn’s contacts with Russians and that Trump had disclosed classified information to the senior Russian officials last week.
Both allegations came from unnamed people, and the White House was quick to denounce the leaks and deny any impropriety, insisting the president never tried to squelch the Flynn investigation, nor did he make inappropriate disclosures to the Russians.
On Capitol Hill, Comey was clearly the man in demand, with three committees working to seat him at their witness tables.
The House oversight committee set a May 24 hearing on whether Trump interfered in the FBI probe, and invited Comey to testify.
The Senate intelligence committee invited Comey to appear in both open and closed sessions. It also asked acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe to give the committee any notes Comey might have made regarding discussions he had with White House or Justice Department officials about Russia’s efforts to influence the election.
Top members of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the FBI to provide any Comey memos and asked the White House to turn over any audio recordings that might exist of conversations with the nowfired director. They expect to bring in Comey in to testify as well.
Trump is preparing to leave town Friday on his first foreign trip, and aides have been hopeful the journey will be a chance for the administration to get back on track after weeks of chaos and distractions.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speculated Trump was probably happy to get out of town — “and a lot of us are glad he’s leaving for a few days.”
His advice to the president: “Stay disciplined, stay focused and deliver on the world stage.”