Order appointing Mueller very narrow, unlikely to include Hillary's known misdeeds

Those of us who thought Robert Mueller's appointment as special counsel might result in some focus on the Clinton Foundation and any other shenanigans committed by the Clintons in the run-up to or during the 2016 campaign will likely be disappointed. The order creating the special counsel is too narrow. To see it click here.

Here are the guts of it, as follows:

ORDER NO. 3915-2017
APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL COUNSEL TO INVESTIGATE RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE WITH THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND RELATED MATTERS

By virtue of the authority vested in me as Acting Attorney General, including 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, and 515, in order to discharge my responsibility to provide supervision and management of the Department of Justice, and to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, I hereby order as follows:

(a) Robert S. Mueller III is appointed to serve as Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice.

(b) The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confirmed by then-FBI Director James B. Comey in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:

(i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and

(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and

(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a).

(c) If the Special Counsel believes it is necessary and appropriate, the Special Counsel is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters.

(d) Sections 600.4 through 600. l 0 of Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations are applicable to the Special Counsel.

"Any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump." Very narrow. Too bad.

It's very unlikely Mueller will step beyond those bounds. It seems as if the Clintons and Obama can get away with anything.

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1:54 PM 5/18/2017