Former FBI Director Robert Mueller III was appointed as special counsel to oversee the federal investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, giving him wide latitude to explore potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. The news comes as President Trump and his administration grapple with the fallout from explosive revelations earlier this week that now-fired FBI director James Comey kept notes of a February meeting indicating Trump asked him to close the agency's investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The authority to appoint a special counsel fell to Rosenstein after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia case because of his pre-election contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, which Sessions did not disclose during his Senate confirmation hearing. In a statement, Rosenstein said, "My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement he was naming a special counsel due to the inquiry’s “unique circumstances.” The public interest, he said, “requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command.” Rosenstein cautioned that his decision wasn’t the result of a “finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted.” He said he has made no such determination. Former George W. Bush Attorney General John Ashcroft, who served with Mueller, told NPR's Ari Shapiro, "I don't know a person more dedicated to the concept and ideal of justice" than Mueller. As NPR's Scott Horsley noted last week, the Justice Department has typically appointed special counsels instead of special prosecutors "to investigate suspected criminal activity when an investigation by the Justice Department itself might pose a conflict of interest. On Monday, it was uncovered that Trump shared classified intelligence with Russian officials, one of whom was Kislyak, during a meeting at the White House last week.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appoints former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the FBI’s investigation of Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election.