Wall Street Journal: Special counsel a ‘mistake’

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board on Wednesday called having a special counsel probing Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election a “mistake.”

The newspaper’s editorial followed the Justice Department’s appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller to that role earlier Wednesday.

“These expeditions rarely end well for anyone, and Democrats are hoping this one will bedevil the Trump Administration for the next four years,” the editorial board said. “The problem with special counsels, as we’ve learned again and again, is that they are by definition politically unaccountable,” it added. “What the country really needs is a full accounting of how the Russians tried to influence the election and whether any Americans assisted them.

{mosads}Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Wednesday announced that the Justice Department has appointed Mueller as special counsel for its Russia investigation.

Rosenstein added that Mueller, a former prosecutor who helmed the FBI for 12 years, had accepted the role.

“My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted,” he said in a statement. “I have made no such determination.”

“What I have determined is that based upon the unique circumstances, 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.”

Democrats have long clamored for a special counsel to probe possible ties between Russia and President Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Trump on Wednesday said in a statement that a federal investigation would find “no collusion” between his bid and “any foreign entity.”