Here is what you need to know about Robert Mueller’s legal team investigating the Russian scandal.
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III was hired by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to continue the investigation on the Russian probe into their alleged involvement in the 2016 election. Mueller has assembled a team of experienced litigators, who have been involved in cases from Watergate to Enron and three of them are from his old law firm, WilmerHale. Mueller also worked as director of the FBI for 12 years and was appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush in 2001. Mueller is widely respected by both Democrats and Republicans, but at the moment, the president is supposedly considering firing him! Can Trump’s lawyer match Mueller’s choices from the highest levels of the Department of Justice?
Technically, Trump can’ t fire Mueller, as it would normally be the decision of the attorney general. But since Jeff Sessions already recused himself, only the deputy attorney general can fire him. If Trump were to go around the deputy or force him to fire Mueller in any way, it would be seen as tampering with the investigation and would likely just add more fuel to the fire. Check out the names below to find who Mueller has chosen for his special counsel team.
Michael R. Dreeben, who serves as the Justice Department’s deputy solicitor general, is working on a part-time basis for Mueller. The FEC database has a record of a Michael W. Dreeban who donated $1,000 to Hillary Clinton’s Senate political action committee (PAC) , Friends of Hillary, in 2006. A spokesperson from the special counsel said that the Dreeben that made the donation to Clinton is not the same Dreeben working on Mueller’s team. (Confusing, we know.) Former and current Justice Department officials say that Mueller’s recruitment of Dreeban shows that he’s not playing games when it comes to Trump and the investigation.
“Michael is the most brilliant and most knowledgeable federal criminal lawyer in America — period, ” said Walter Dellinger, a law professor at Duke University School of Law to The Washington Post .
“I learned early on in my time as acting [solicitor general] that there was no point of ever thinking of second-guessing Michael on a matter of federal criminal law, because he just knew more than I did or could ever know, ” Dellinger said. “He’s a straight shooter and is held in the greatest esteem by the FBI and lawyers in U. S. attorneys offices all over the country.”
Jeannie Rhee is a former deputy assistant attorney general and partner in investigations practice at WilmerHale. She’s known for her past work on behalf of the Clinton Foundation and was the second largest donor on Mueller’s team. She has donated more than $16,000 since 2008, which all went to Democrats. She also gave a total of $7,300 to President Barack Obama’s two presidential campaigns.
Andrew Weissmann, chief of the Criminal Division’s fraud section, worked on the Enron investigation and he’s also known for his investigation into Volkswagon for cheating on their diesel emissions tests, to which they pleaded guilty to earlier this year. Before his time at the FBI or Justice Department, Weissmann worked at the law firm Jenner & Block LLP. He also donated six times to PACs for Obama in 2008 in the total of $4,700.
James Quarles, served as an assistant special on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force and has donated to dozens of Democratic PACs since the 1980s. He was also a colleague at Mueller’s old firm, along with Aaron Zebley, who left WilmerHale to work on the Russia investigation. Zebley represented former Hillary Clinton aide, Justin Cooper, who also helped with her private email server.
