Deputy AG Rosenstein: Special counsel Mueller can investigate any crimes he uncovers in Russia probe

[bigtree]

Kyle Griffin? @kylegriffin1
Deputy AG Rosenstein: Special counsel Mueller can investigate any crimes he uncovers in Russia probe.

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said Sunday that the expanding investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is continuing apace, even as President Trump dismissed the probe as “a total fabrication.”

Rosenstein said special counsel Robert S. Mueller III can investigate any crimes that he might discover within the scope of his probe, but the deputy attorney general would not discuss which individuals are the subject of their inquiry. The interview comes days after Trump said he believes it would be inappropriate for Mueller to dig into Trump family finances.

“The special counsel is subject to the rules and regulations of the Department of Justice, and we don’t engage in fishing expeditions,” Rosenstein said when asked about the probe in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/rosenstein-special-counsel-mueller-can-investigate-any-crimes-he-uncovers-in-russia-probe/2017/08/06/2209365a-7aae-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html?utm_term=.82cc2de7f837&tid=sm_tw

[Orrex]

1. Well no shit (one would hope)

Ken Starr cast a net as wide as the known universe, spending $40+ million to find out that Clinton got a blowjob, and I don't believe that that was the original target or intent of his sprawling investigation.

I don't recall Republicans complaining about a "fishing expedition" at that time.

[Nitram]

2. That's right. Starr's investigation was supposed to be into Whitewater.

When that didn't pan out, he started fishing, casting his net far and wide.

[Lee-Lee]

3. Yep, he go go any way and every way he wants

It's literally an open book to chase any rabbits holes he wants.

You can't go "fishing" for something unrelated, but if in the course of looking for something another thing happens across your view then it's fair game. And if you know how to play the game you can make sure your searches lead that way. Aaa

It's a game of technicalities many times, a lot like when you are executing a search warrant. If I have a search warrant that says I am looking for a stolen car and only a stolen car if I open a cellphone in the residence being searched and find child porn on it then that child porn is inadmissible, because there is no legitimate reason for me to be looking in the phone for a car- a car won't fit in a phone. But if I had the search warrant written for "stolen car, any keys that would fit the stolen car, any parts for the stolen car, any photographs of the stolen car, or any communications in any media regarding the stolen car" then suddenly its legitimate for me to search the phone and any evidence of other crimes found is fair game to go after.

We had a case like that once where there was high confidence the person was in fact engaging in human trafficking and making child porn but we couldn't get enough evidence to get a warrant. Well, one day he made a post online on a web forum showing him shooting a gun and with a deer he had killed. He was a convicted felon and on top of that didn't have a hunting license- so a warrant was obtained based on violations of game law and possession of a firearm that included not only a search for the gun and the animal but "any records, communications or photographs of such". That allowed taking possession of all his computers and hard drives to search and that lead to busting him and about a dozen others that were in a group that was exploiting runaway minors.

I had not thought of that until this post, and just looked. He is still in jail- that makes me smile.

[bigtree]

4. »