(hmmmm?)-Newt Gingrich: Independent Investigator Needed for Trump-Russia Probe
Newt Gingrich: ‘Independent’ Investigator Needed for Trump-Russia Probe
by ERIK ORTIZ
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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wants a special investigator to review the Trump team's alleged contact with Russian officials during the campaign — one of the few prominent Republicans calling for such an examination.
Gingrich, when asked about the use of a special prosecutor Tuesday on Fox News, advised President Donald Trump to "take a lesson from the past" and assign a "very smart, independent person" to take on that investigatory role.
"Maybe somebody like Michael Mukasey, former attorney general [under George W. Bush] — put them in charge of the whole project, and say, you know, there are questions here, the country has questions, the media has questions, even members of Congress (have) questions," Gingrich said.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/newt-gingrich-independent-investigator-needed-trump-russia-probe-n726686
= new reply since forum marked as read
From 2008 -
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2008/09/what_makes_a_lawyer_special.html
The term "special prosecutor" first came into use in the United States during the Teapot Dome scandals of 1920s, when Calvin Coolidge appointed outside lawyers to look into the corrupt land-leasing practices of federal officials.
Special prosecutors were given more official status in the aftermath of Watergate, when Richard Nixon finagled the firing of the one assigned to investigate him. The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 called for the position of "special prosecutor" to be separate from the executive and legislative branches and to be appointed by a three-member panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The act also gave special prosecutors the power to issue subpoenas, start grand jury proceedings, hire a staff, use the resources of the Department of Justice and FBI, and get a security clearance if needed. (Later, the name "special prosecutor" would be officially changed to "independent counsel."
The Supreme Court upheld the law governing special prosecutors in 1988, but Congress let it expire in 1999 in the wake of Kenneth Starr and the Clinton investigation. * In its place, the Department of Justice created regulations (PDF) allowing for the selection of an outside "special counsel" on those occasions when there's a conflict of interest within the department. Unlike the independent counsels that came before, a special counsel is appointed by the attorney general, so he doesn't enjoy the same strict separation from the executive branch.
He does have more freedom than a "special attorney" like Danahey, though: He has "independent authority" to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions and is not subject to day-to-day oversight by DOJ officials. Moreover, the AG has only very limited authority to reverse a Special Counsel's decisions, or to remove the Special Counsel.
By contrast, Danahey was not only appointed by the attorney general, but she is also directly accountable to him: Mukasey can direct, superintend, and reverse her decisions.
Stay clear Jefferson Bauregard Session....(spelling?? - meh)
fyi (Danahey case - surrounded the firing of 9 US Attys in 2006)
