Senators are trying to save one of their own. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s job could be in jeopardy. Mueller received the job as Special Counsel after Trump fired James Comey.
He was the Director of FBI, a position that Comey later took up.
Two Senators are pushing legislation that will keep Mueller in his current post. The Senators are Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
They plan to bring legislation to allow Mueller to challenge anyone who seeks to fire him. The bill makes it possible to have the issue go to the Law Courts. A panel of 3 Judges can review the matter within 14 days of the challenge.
The Policy
The ability to take the matter to court is the strongest part of the bill. That means the person doing the firing won’t have the final say. The bill applies to any special counsel of the Justice Department.
The bill is backdate to include May 17 2017. That is when Mueller was appointed to be the investigator. Rod Rosenstein who was the Deputy Attorney General at the time hired Mueller.
His job was to investigate the Russia/Trump meddling election scandal.
The legislation allows an inquiry into the reason of dismissal. If the grounds for dismissal aren’t warranted, then the person must be given back their job.
The Justice Department rules stipulate that a person can be fired for certain reasons. These include conflict of interest, misconduct, incapacity, dereliction of duty and violation of departmental policies.
The bill allows only the Attorney General and the top senior official in the Justice Department to fire an individual.
Implications
The move implies that the possibility of more people being fired is evident. The bill is expected to be introduced to Congress on August 3.
Independent investigators are vital to the transparency of scandals. It is vital that they can work without the pressure of outside interference.
Coon said “ensuring that the special counsel cannot be removed improperly is critical to the integrity of his investigation.”
Till said “it is critical that special counsels have the independence and resources they need to lead investigations.”
“A back-end judicial review process to prevent unmerited removals of special counsels not only helps to ensure their investigatory independence. But also reaffirms our nation’s system of check and balances,” he said.
Trump has warned Mueller not to search his family finances. His team of lawyers is searching for anything to disrupt Mueller’s investigations. They have tried to do this by checking into his team.
A team he has hired to assist him with his investigations. Mueller has hired a group of lawyers and prosecutors. These individuals have experience in financial fraud.
They have experience in organized crime and National Security. They are also investigating connections between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
This new Policy is refreshing and helps with transparency. The Senate is fully supportive of Mueller. They have even warned Trump not to fire him.
A warning that signifies there should always be transparency in politics.