# United States Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel

The Office of Special Counsel was an office of the United States Department of Justice established by provisions in the Ethics in Government Act that expired in 1999. The provisions were replaced by Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part 600, which created the successor office of special counsel. The current regulations were drafted by former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal.
The independent counsel was an independent prosecutor—distinct from the attorney general of the United States Department of Justice—who provided reports to the United States Congress under 28 U.S.C. § 595.

## History

In 1978, a Democratic Party-majority Congress was determined to curb the powers of the president and other senior executive branch officials due in part to the Watergate scandal and related events such as the Saturday Night Massacre. They drafted and passed the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, creating a special prosecutor (later changed to independent counsel) position, which could be used by Congress or the attorney general to investigate individuals holding or formerly holding certain high positions in the federal government and in national presidential election campaign organizations.
The prosecutor, who was appointed by a special panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, could investigate allegations of any misconduct, with an unlimited budget and no deadline, and could be dismissed only by the attorney general for "good cause" or by the special panel of the court when the independent counsel's task was completed. The president could not dismiss those investigating the executive branch. It was felt that the independence of the office would ensure impartiality of any reports presented to Congress. However, there have been critics of this law including Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Many argued the new independent counsel's office was a sort of "fourth branch" of government that had virtually unlimited powers and was answerable to no one. However, the constitutionality of the new office was ultimately upheld in the 1988 Supreme Court case Morrison v. Olson.
Previously under the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994, United States Attorney General Janet Reno had Donald Smaltz appointed Independent Counsel by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (Division for the Purpose of Appointing Independent Counsels Ethics in Government Act of 1978, As Amended, Division 94-2) on September 9, 1994, to "investigate to the maximum extent authorized by law" whether the US Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy "committed a violation of any federal criminal law . . . relating in any way to the acceptance of gifts by him from organizations or individuals with business pending before the Department of Agriculture." Smaltz was also given jurisdiction to investigate "other allegations or evidence of violations of any federal criminal law by organizations or individuals developed during the course of the investigation of Secretary Espy and connected with or arising out of that investigation."
The most famous independent counsel was Kenneth Starr, whose report led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton by the United States House of Representatives, though he was later acquitted by the United States Senate.
Three independent counsel investigations had jurisdictions that were specified in regulations: the Iran–Contra investigation in 1987 (28 Code of Federal Regulations sec. 601.1); Edwin Meese III, the Wedtech case in 1987 (sec. 602.1), and President Bill and First Lady Hillary Clinton in the Madison Guaranty/Whitewater case in 1994 (sec. 603.1).
After the expiration of the Ethics in Government Act in 1999, the Office of Independent Counsel was replaced with the Office of Special Counsel, defined by regulation 28 CFR 600, which in turn is based on congressional statute 28 USC 510.
Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed Special Counsel in 2003 regarding the investigation into the public naming of CIA spy Valerie Plame. His appointment was based on 28 USC 510.
Under 28 CFR 600, Robert Mueller was appointed Special Counsel in 2017 to investigate possible interference by the Russian government in the 2016 presidential election, including a possible criminal conspiracy between Russia and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. The investigation was officially concluded on March 22, 2019. The report concluded that the Russian Internet Research Agency's social media campaign supported Trump's presidential candidacy while attacking Clinton's, and Russian intelligence hacked and released damaging material from the Clinton campaign and various Democratic Party organizations. The investigation "identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign", and determined that the Trump campaign "expected it would benefit electorally" from Russian hacking efforts. However, ultimately "the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities". Mueller later said that the investigation's conclusion on Russian interference "deserves the attention of every American".
In 2019 Attorney General William Barr appointed a federal prosecutor, John Durham, to counter-investigate the origins of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane probe. On December 1, 2020, the Associated Press reported that Barr had appointed Durham as a special counsel under the federal statute governing such appointments to conduct an investigation into "…the investigation of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III," by which was meant the FBI personnel who worked on Crossfire Hurricane before joining the Mueller team.

## Timeline

* Originally created by the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and the Ethics in Government Act Amendments of 1982 (96 Stat. 2039), January 3, 1983
* Reauthorized for five years by the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1987 (101 Stat. 1293), December 15, 1987
* Lapsed, December 15, 1992, by failure of reauthorization
* Reinstituted by the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994 (PL 103-270), June 30, 1994
* Converted into the Office of the Special Counsel end of 1999.

## Investigations carried out by independent counsel

| Name | Name | Start | End | Topic | Appointer |
| | John Henderson | June 1, 1875 | December 10, 1875 | Whiskey Ring | Ulysses Grant (President) |
| | James Broadhead | January 1876 | March 1876 | Whiskey Ring | Ulysses Grant (President) |
| | William Cook | June 1881 | September 1882 | Star Route scandal | James Garfield (President) |
| | Holmes Conrad | June 1903 | June 1904 | Bribery at the United States Post Office Department | Teddy Roosevelt (President) |
| | Charles Bonaparte | June 1903 | June 1904 | Bribery at the United States Post Office Department | Teddy Roosevelt (President) |
| | Francis Heney | October 1903 | January 1, 1905 | Oregon land fraud scandal | Philander Knox (Attorney General) |
| | Atlee Pomerene | February 16, 1924 | June 1931 | Teapot Dome scandal | Calvin Coolidge (President) |
| | Owen Roberts | February 18, 1924 | June 2, 1930 | Teapot Dome scandal | Calvin Coolidge (President) |
| | Newbold Morris | February 1, 1952 | April 3, 1952 | DOJ corruption allegations | Howard McGrath (Attorney General) |
| | Archibald Cox | May 18, 1973 | October 20, 1973 | Watergate scandal | Elliot Richardson (Attorney General) |
| | Leon Jaworski | November 1, 1973 | October 25, 1974 | Watergate scandal | Bob Bork (Acting Attorney General) |
| | Hank Ruth | October 25, 1974 | October 17, 1975 | Watergate scandal | William Saxbe (Attorney General) |
| | Chuck Ruff | October 17, 1975 | June 20, 1977 | Watergate scandal | Edward Levi (Attorney General) |
| | Arthur Christy | November 29, 1979 | May 28, 1980 | Allegations of illegal drug use of Jimmy Carter's aide Hamilton Jordan | DC Circuit Court |
| | Paul Curran | March 23, 1979 | October 16, 1979 | Carter business loans | Griffin Bell (Attorney General) |
| | Gerald Gallinghouse | September 9, 1980 | March 1981 | Allegations of illegal drug use of Jimmy Carter's aide Timothy Kraft | DC Circuit Court |
| | Leon Silverman | December 29, 1981 | September 13, 1982 | Raymond Donovan's connections to organized crime | DC Circuit Court |
| | Jacob Stein | April 2, 1984 | September 21, 1984 | Ed Meese financial improprieties | DC Circuit Court |
| | Jim McKay | April 23, 1986 | May 29, 1986 | Ted Olson obstruction of Congress's Superfund investigation | DC Circuit Court |
| | Alexia Morrison | May 29, 1986 | March 14, 1989 | Ted Olson obstruction of Congress's Superfund investigation | DC Circuit Court |
| | Mike Seymour | May 29, 1986 | August 6, 1989 | Michael Deaver conflict of interest and lobbying | DC Circuit Court |
| | Lawrence Walsh | December 19, 1986 | August 4, 1993 | Iran-Contra affair | DC Circuit Court |
| | Carl Rauh | December 19, 1986 | March 30, 1987 | Lawrence Wallace's personal tax matters | DC Circuit Court |
| | James Harper | August 17, 1987 | December 18, 1987 | Lawrence Wallace's personal tax matters | DC Circuit Court |
| | Jim McKay | February 3, 1987 | September 1988 | Wedtech scandal | DC Circuit Court |
| Unknown | Unknown | May 31, 1989 | August 23, 1989 | Under seal | DC Circuit Court |
| | Arlin Adams | March 1, 1990 | May 1995 | Samuel Pierce's mismanagement and fraud of programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | DC Circuit Court |
| | Larry Thompson | July 3, 1995 | October 27, 1998 | Samuel Pierce's mismanagement and fraud of programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | DC Circuit Court |
| Unknown | Unknown | April 19, 1991 | July 15, 1992 | Under seal | DC Circuit Court |
| | Nicholas Bua | November 14, 1991 | March 1993 | Inslaw scandal | Bill Barr (Attorney General) |
| | Malcolm Wilkey | March 20, 1992 | December 17, 1992 | House banking scandal | Bill Barr (Attorney General) |
| | Frederick Lacey | October 16, 1992 | December 8, 1992 | Iraqgate | Bill Barr (Attorney General) |
| | Joe diGenova | December 14, 1992 | January 11, 1996 | Improper search of Bill Clinton's passport records by George H. W. Bush administration staff on behalf of his 1992 presidential reelection campaign | DC Circuit Court |
| | Michael Zeldin | January 11, 1996 | August 12, 1998 | Improper search of Bill Clinton's passport records by George H. W. Bush administration staff on behalf of his 1992 presidential reelection campaign | DC Circuit Court |
| | Bob Fiske | January 24, 1994 | August 5, 1994 | Suicide of Vince Foster, the Whitewater scandal, Travelgate, Filegate, and later the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal | Janet Reno (Attorney General) |
| | Ken Starr | August 5, 1994 | September 11, 1998 | Suicide of Vince Foster, the Whitewater scandal, Travelgate, Filegate, and later the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal | DC Circuit Court |
| | Robert Ray | September 11, 1998 | March 13, 2002 | Suicide of Vince Foster, the Whitewater scandal, Travelgate, Filegate, and later the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal | DC Circuit Court |
| | Julie Thomas | March 13, 2002 | September 30, 2004 | Suicide of Vince Foster, the Whitewater scandal, Travelgate, Filegate, and later the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal | DC Circuit Court |
| | Don Smaltz | September 9, 1994 | October 25, 2001 | Allegations of corrupt gratuity by Mike Espy | DC Circuit Court |
| | David Barrett | May 24, 1995 | January 19, 2006 | Henry Cisneros payments controversy | DC Circuit Court |
| | Daniel Pearson | July 6, 1995 | November 14, 1996 | Commerce Department trade mission controversy | DC Circuit Court |
| | Curtis von Kann | November 27, 1996 | December 19, 1997 | Eli Segal's conflicts of interest | DC Circuit Court |
| | Carol Elder Bruce | March 19, 1998 | August 22, 2000 | Bruce Babbitt and allegations of public corruption surrounding the Department of Interior's denial of a casino contract to an Indian Nation and the truth or falsity of testimony to a Senate Committee concerning the official conduct | DC Circuit Court |
| | Ralph Lancaster | May 26, 1998 | April 5, 2000 | Charges of influence-peddling and the solicitation of illegal campaign contributions against Alexis Herman | DC Circuit Court |
| | John Danforth | September 9, 1999 | November 8, 2000 | Waco siege | Janet Reno (Attorney General) |
| | Patrick Fitzgerald | December 30, 2003 | March 6, 2008 | Plame affair | Jim Comey (Deputy Attorney General) |
| | Bob Mueller | May 17, 2017 | May 29, 2019 | Investigation into possible interference by the Russian government in the 2016 presidential election, which include a possible criminal conspiracy between the Russian government and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump | Rod Rosenstein (Deputy Attorney General) |
| | John Durham | October 19, 2020 | May 15, 2023 | Counter-investigation of the origins of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane probe | Bill Barr (Attorney General) |
| | Jack Smith | November 18, 2022 | January 10, 2025 | Donald Trump's attempts to delay the certification of the 2020 United States presidential election and his mishandling of files recovered during the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago | Merrick Garland (Attorney General) |
| | Robert K. Hur | January 12, 2023 | February 5, 2024 | Investigation of the Joe Biden classified documents incident | Merrick Garland (Attorney General) |
| | David Weiss | August 11, 2023 | present | Hunter Biden scandal | Merrick Garland (Attorney General) |