On that note......I see the fake documents case has been dismissed against Trump......that's good - right? Rule of law and all that.......Expect an appeal
President Richard M. Nixon's attorney general named a special counsel to investigate White House wrongdoing. So did President Ronald Reagan's attorney general. So did President Donald Trump's. The Supreme Court blessed the practice when it was challenged during Watergate.Ethics in Government Act of 1978, creating a special prosecutor (later changed to independent counsel) position, which could be used by Congress
or the attorney general to investigate individuals holding or formerly holding certain high positions in the federal government and in national presidential election campaign organizations.
The prosecutor, who was appointed by a special panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, could investigate allegations of any misconduct, with an unlimited budget and no deadline, and could be dismissed only
by the attorney general for "good cause" or by the special panel of the court when the independent counsel's task was completed. The president could not dismiss those investigating the executive branch. It was felt that the independence of the office would ensure impartiality of any reports presented to Congress.
Previously under the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994, Un
ited States
Attorney General Janet Reno had Donald Smaltz appointed Independent Counsel by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (Division for the Purpose of Appointing Independent Counsels Ethics in Government Act of 1978, As Amended, Division 94-2) on September 9, 1994, to "investigate to the maximum extent authorized by law" whether the US Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy "committed a violation of any federal criminal law . . . relating in any way to the acceptance of gifts by him from organizations or individuals with business pending before the Department of Agriculture." Smaltz was also given jurisdiction to investigate "other allegations or evidence of violations of any federal criminal law by organizations or individuals developed during the course of the investigation of Secretary Espy and connected with or arising out of that investigation."
And a real beauty In 2019
Attorney General William Barr appointed a federal prosecutor, John Durham, to counter-investigate the origins of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane probe.
