Special counsel appointed to Trump-Russia investigation – as it happened

We’re going to put this blog on hold for the time being, pending any further developments. Thanks for reading and I’ll leave you with a summary of the latest events.

• Former FBI director Robert Mueller has been appointed as special counsel to oversee the justice department’s inquiry into ties between Donald Trump’s election campaign and Russia.
  
• The appointment was made by deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who was instrumental in the recent firing of FBI director James Comey. Rosenstein said “the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command”.
• Fresh questions have emerged about the appointment of Michael Flynn as national security adviser. The New York Times reports he was appointed despite telling Trump’s transition team on 4 January he was being investigated for his secret work as a paid lobbyist for Turkey. McClatchyDC says one of his first decisions as national security adviser was to delay an attack on Isis that Turkey disapproved of.
• House majority leader Kevin McCarthy suggested Trump was being paid by Vladimir Putin during a 2016 conversation with fellow senior colleagues, it has emerged. The remarks were made after he had been briefed by the Ukrainian prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman, about Russian attempts to undermine democratic institutions in eastern Europe.
• Mueller’s role has wide discretionary powers, but the attorney general (or his deputy in this case) still has overall responsibility. The move has made Trump’s presidency considerably more precarious, says Julian Borger in his analysis.
• Mueller is a veteran of the FBI, and oversaw a huge expansion of the bureau in the wake of the September 11 attacks. He served under presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama.
• The appointment has generally received bipartisan support, with few questioning his credentials, though some notables have played a straight bat (Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell). The Senate select committee on intelligence, which is carrying out its own investigation into the same subject, said the move would provide reassurance that the justice department’s inquiry would “proceed fairly and free of political influence”.
• The White House has said the investigation “will confirm what we already know – there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity”. Earlier, Trump himself told a crowd in Connecticut that “No politician in history ... has been treated worse or more unfairly.”

And here’s the promised analysis from world affairs editor Julian Borger.

The BBC spoke to Trump supporters in Nashville. They’re backing him all the way. They said they have seen no evidence of Russian ties and are “sick and tired” of the media’s stories.

Our world affairs editor, Julian Borger, has written an analysis of Trump’s moves that have made his presidency significantly more precarious.

We will have it published shortly but here is a preview of some of his points. Trump has acted as if the post of president was an elected monarchy and made numerous missteps in his firing of James Comey. Namely, he tried to smear Comey’s strong reputation, and make it look like deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein was behind the sacking.

The result is a special counsel appointed by Rosenstein who has wide scope to investigate obstructions of justice. And in Mueller, Trump faces a knowledgable veteran who has “has nothing to prove, no reputation to burnish, no axe to grind”, says David Kris in his Lawfare blog.

Rod Rosenstein’s letter (pdf) formally appointing Robert Mueller suggests the special counsel may have wide terms of reference.

He is authorised to investigate “any links and/or coordination 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”.

As the NYT points out, the letter also refers to a regulation that encompasses efforts to impede an investigation, which suggest he could look at reports Trump urged James Comey to drop the FBI investigation into Michael Flynn.

• Former FBI director Robert Mueller has been appointed as special counsel to oversee the justice department’s inquiry into ties between Donald Trump’s election campaign and Russia.
  
• The appointment was made by deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who was instrumental in the recent firing of FBI director James Comey. Rosenstein said “the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command”.
• Fresh questions have emerged about the appointment of Michael Flynn as national security adviser. The New York Times reports he was appointed despite telling Trump’s transition team on 4 January he was being investigated for his secret work as a paid lobbyist for Turkey. McClatchyDC says one of his first decisions as national security adviser was to delay an attack on Isis that Turkey disapproved of.
• Mueller’s role has wide discretionary powers, but the attorney general (or his deputy) still has overall responsibility.
• Mueller is a veteran of the FBI, and oversaw a huge expansion of the bureau in the wake of the September 11 attacks. He served under presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama.
• The appointment has generally received bipartisan support, with few questioning his credentials, though some notables have played a straight bat (Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell). The Senate select committee on intelligence, which is carrying out its own investigation into the same subject, said the move would provide reassurance that the justice department’s inquiry would “proceed fairly and free of political influence”.
• The White House has said the investigation “will confirm what we already know – there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity”. Earlier, Trump himself told a crowd in Connecticut that “No politician in history ... has been treated worse or more unfairly.”
• House majority leader Kevin McCarthy suggested Trump was being paid by Vladimir Putin during a 2016 conversation with fellow senior colleagues, it has emerged. The remarks were made after he had been briefed by the Ukrainian prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman, about Russian attempts to undermine democratic institutions in eastern Europe.

This keyword had to happen, however premature it may be.

Moving back to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to one of the three Russia investigations. This report from the Washington Post paints a picture of an incident in 2004 in which Mueller (the then FBI director) and James Comey (the then deputy attorney general) joined forces to prevent the George W Bush administration from extending a warrantless wiretapping program.

It includes furious politicking at the bedside of attorney general John D Ashcroft and multiple threats to resign.

Comey went on to succeed Mueller, with his tenure extended by the Obama administration, making his the second-longest serving FBI director behind J Edgar Hoover himself.

Top quote, from Thomas J Pickard, who served as deputy director under Mueller:

He [Comey] doesn’t sway under political pressure.

For 12 years, he kept the FBI out of politics.