DOJ appoints special prosecutor to take over Russia investigation

Robert Mueller.
(Image credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

The Justice Department on Wednesday appointed a special prosecutor to oversee the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Robert Mueller, who led the FBI for 12 years during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, will serve as special counsel, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement. The announcement comes after the revelation Tuesday night that former FBI Director James Comey kept detailed notes of his conversations with President Trump, including when Trump allegedly asked Comey to drop his Russia-linked investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.