Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Ex-FBI Head Mueller Named Special Prosecutor for Russiagate

The Trump administration, or at least someone who works in it, finally did the right thing. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has appointed Robert Mueller III, former head of the FBI, as a special prosecutor to investigate Russian interference in the last presidential election. His brief allows him to look into anything related to the Russian influence operation. He is the man who transformed the FBI into an anti-terrorist agency, his term starting the week before the Al Qaeda murders of September 11. Above all, he is a man of immense integrity committed to the rule of law. No matter what he discovers, this journal is confident that his investigation will be fair and will get to the truth.

Bobby Three Sticks sounds more like the moniker of a second rate mobster, but Mr. Mueller is a no-nonsense, former Marine whose meticulous style is as odds with being "The Third." So, the Roman number becomes three sticks. He oversaw the investigations into the Lockerbie bombing and the drug running of Panamanian President Manuel Noriega. He's been a prosecutor and investigator for a long time. He may be Mr. Trump's worst nightmare, a man dedicated to the facts.

Mr. Rosenstein chose well, and he also set the parameters of the investigation properly. The letter appointing Mr. Mueller authorizes him to continue the investigation then-FBI Director James Comey confirmed to Congress on March 20, 2017, including "(i) any links between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and (ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation ...."

So, he has whatever the investigation has turned up thus far, and he is empowered to follow up on anything uncovered. Moreover, if he turns up anything new, he is to take that on. The word "directly" may appear significant, and in a courtroom, it might limit Mr. Mueller. In practice, though, the word means what one needs it to mean. As Noah Feldman of Bloomberg noted, "Rosenstein could in theory order Mueller to hold off on a line of inquiry that was too indirect. But that would most likely lead Mueller to resign, which would in turn trigger Saturday Night Massacre comparisons," a reference to President Nixon's firing of Justice Department personnel who refused to fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.

Mr. Mueller's appointment is a wonderful move, but it is not sufficient itself to finish the job at hand. His role is to investigate, not to create safeguards and solutions. Russia interferes in the elections of other nations as much as it possibly can, and it will do so in the mid-terms of 2018 and the 2020 presidential election. Mr. Mueller's investigation doesn't have the power nor the scope to offer ways to prevent that. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that an independent commission, select Congressional committee, or some other body of the great and good look into ways to reduce the effectiveness of Russian interference. And the temptation to let Mr. Mueller carry the weight for everyone need to be resisted.

In the end, it doesn't much matter if Mr. Mueller discovers that Mr. Trump holds the rank of colonel in the GRU or that the whole thing was a vast left-wing conspiracy. The rule of law depends on the facts, and the facts are what he is to ferret out. What does matter is that the electoral process is viewed by the American people as a fair and unbiased presentation of We the People. Bobby Three Sticks doesn't have that responsibility, nor should he. But a commission ranging from Paul Ryan to Bernie Sanders, and from Orrin Hatch to Ruth Bader Ginsburg should. The fragility of a democratic republic has been laid bare, and in the end, Benjamin Franklin was right when he described the form of government the US would have, "A republic, if you can keep it." This foreign interference was a body blow. Americans must ensure that no other punches land.

© Copyright 2017 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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