3 Ways Trump Or His Allies Might Try To Disrupt The Mueller Russia Probe : NPR
Rod Rosenstein
The idea: Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe in March  he is not supervising special counsel Robert Mueller or his team. That means the buck stops with  the deputy attorney general  Rod Rosenstein .  Rosenstein  told the House Judiciary Committee Dec. 13  he  has seen no reason that would be "good cause" to remove the special counsel and that  he  has confidence in the investigation.
One way for the White House to shake up the probe is to find a way to replace the attorney general  who is recused  with someone who is not. That person could then exercise more control over the Russia investigation  including nixing some spending by the special counsel  refusing to sign off on interviews of key witnesses or requests for grand jury indictments â or even firing  Mueller .
The problem: Sessions is having the time of  his  life at the Justice Department  and doesn't want to go anywhere. Earlier this year   he  rebuffed efforts to mount a write-in campaign for  his  old Senate seat in Alabama  and another effort to get  him  to move over to the Department of Homeland Security.
The problem:  the current Deputy Attorney General  Rod Rosenstein   appeared to draw  his  own line in the sand in recent House testimony  telling lawmakers that special counsel Robert Mueller was among the best civil servants and law enforcement officials in modern history. The new FBI Director  Christopher Wray  is also a fan of Mueller's. And in a standoff during the George W. Bush presidency over surveillance measures the Justice Department balked at approving  Wray also volunteered to resign in protest along with a series of other senior DOJ officials. In other words  the specter of another mass resignation at the top of the Justice Department and the FBI would loom large.
The idea: Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe in March  he is not supervising special counsel Robert Mueller or his team. That means the buck stops with  the deputy attorney general  Rod Rosenstein .  Rosenstein  told the House Judiciary Committee Dec. 13  he  has seen no reason that would be "good cause" to remove the special counsel and that  he  has confidence in the investigation.
One way for the White House to shake up the probe is to find a way to replace the attorney general  who is recused  with someone who is not. That person could then exercise more control over the Russia investigation  including nixing some spending by the special counsel  refusing to sign off on interviews of key witnesses or requests for grand jury indictments â or even firing  Mueller .
The problem: Sessions is having the time of  his  life at the Justice Department  and doesn't want to go anywhere. Earlier this year   he  rebuffed efforts to mount a write-in campaign for  his  old Senate seat in Alabama  and another effort to get  him  to move over to the Department of Homeland Security.
The problem:   [TGT] appeared to draw   [TGT]   own line in the sand in recent House testimony  telling lawmakers that special counsel Robert Mueller was among the best civil servants and law enforcement officials in modern history. The new FBI Director  Christopher Wray  is also a fan of Mueller's. And in a standoff during the George W. Bush presidency over surveillance measures the Justice Department balked at approving  Wray also volunteered to resign in protest along with a series of other senior DOJ officials. In other words  the specter of another mass resignation at the top of the Justice Department and the FBI would loom large.