Robert Mueller’s sprawling investigation into Trump’s ties with Russia has no end in sight.
His probe is the swamp’s best shot at removing Donald Trump from office.
But one Republican made a move that could shut him down for good.
Florida Congressman Ron DeSantis has proposed an amendment that would impose limits on Mueller’s probe.
His amendment would cut off Mueller’s funding after 6 months and prohibit him from investigating anything before 2015, when Donald Trump became a declared candidate for office.
Politico reports:
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is pushing an amendment to severely curtail special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
DeSantis has put forward a provision that would halt funding for Mueller’s probe six months after the amendment’s passage. It also would prohibit Mueller from investigating matters that occurred before June 2015, when Trump launched his presidential campaign.
The amendment is one of hundreds filed to a government spending package the House is expected to consider when it returns next week from the August recess. The provision is not guaranteed a vote on the House floor; the House Rules Committee has wide leeway to discard amendments it considers out of order.
In a statement, DeSantis said the order appointing Mueller as special counsel “didn’t identify a crime to be investigated and practically invites a fishing expedition.”
“Congress should use its spending power to clarify the scope and limit the duration of this investigation,” he explained. Deputy Attorney General Rod “Rosenstein has said that the DOJ doesn’t conduct fishing expeditions; the corollary to this admonition should be that Congress will not fund a fishing expedition.”
DeSantis’ amendment marks a rare moment of sanity in Washington.
Conservative critics have always been skeptical of special counsels.
They are unaccountable and have unlimited budgets and time to build a case.
Since they are hired to prosecute, mission creep sets in and their investigations drag on for years until they can find a crime – any crime – to charge someone with.
When Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was tasked with investigating the leak of Valerie Plame’s name to columnist Robert Novak, he knew almost instantly who the source was.
But he kept the probe open for years until he could charge White House aide Scooter Libby with lying to him about a conversation with Meet the Press host Tim Russert.
Similarly, Ken Starr’s investigation began with examining the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas back in 1994.
It ended in 1999 with the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
There are no real limits on Mueller’s authority.
And that’s just the way the swamp wants it.
If Mueller operates with no boundaries, he is free to pursue any line of inquiry which will make it easier for him to create a recommendation for impeachment.
Congress did away with the special counsel statute for very good reasons.
It was an extraconstitutional office that existed as an unelected and unaccountable branch of government.
Now the establishment is using it to try and rid themselves of Trump.
But at least one Congressman is fighting back.
