THE SPECIAL COUNSEL PROBLEM – AT 11:29 A.M. ET:  Robert Mueller, former FBI director and now special counsel to the Justice Department, hired to probe President Trump, has a problem.  A trust problem.  A credibility problem.  Glenn Harlan Reynolds, master of Instapundit, explains the dilemma at USA Today:   

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a problem: He has a disqualifying conflict of interest regarding a large part of his work. It involves a choice between investigating or relying on former FBI director James Comey, a longtime close friend of Mueller’s.

Ideally, he’ll recognize that and resign. But if he doesn’t resign, Attorney General Jeff Sessions should appoint another special counsel to take over the obstruction-of-justice part of the investigation, where Mueller is disqualified.

At present, there are two investigations: One into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians (a claim that even Democrat Chris Matthews admitted fell apart after Comey’s recent testimony) and an investigation into whether, while being investigated for this claimed collusion, President Trump or someone else obstructed justice. That investigation is closely tied to Comey, and so is Mueller.

As Bill Otis wrote in these pages last week, Mueller is too close to Comey to be impartial, and that violates Justice Department conflict of interest rules.  As Otis noted, “Comey and Mueller have been friends for nearly 15 years. They were partners in the episode that defined Comey's professional persona more than any other in his public service. It would be surprising if it had not also forged a permanent bond with Mueller ... Comey now finds himself at the center of the Russian investigation over which Mueller presides.

Questions swirl around Comey — about whether the president wanted/hinted/hoped/asked/directed/or something else the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn to be stopped/abandoned/slowed/soft-peddled/something else. This is probably the central element of the obstruction of justice case that Trump's opponents would like to see made against him. Questions also swirl about Comey's notes about this conversation and why he gave them to a private individual (professor Dan Richman of Columbia Law) to convey to journalists.

And...

We have a deeply divided nation, and Trump’s supporters already see this investigation as a witch hunt, an attempt at a lawyer’s coup by the “Deep State” that has always opposed Trump’s presidency.  An outcome that looks rigged could produce an even bigger explosion than Trump might produce by firing Mueller.

If Trump is cleared by a new special counsel, the country will be spared a great political trauma. Should the investigation go the other way, however, only a new special counsel — preferably one from outside the Beltway — can hope to placate the millions of Americans who cast their votes for Donald Trump.

Will Mueller step down, or will Sessions appoint another counsel? What happens next will tell us a lot about both men.

COMMENT:  Very wise, very well argued.  The whole Mueller episode is poisonout.  You'd think Mueller would realize it and do the right thing. 

It's no-win for Mueller.  He'd be best turning the probes over to someone else.

June 20, 2017