Bloomberg Law Brief: Bipartisan Support for Mueller (Audio)

dot org. Today Bloomberg, Lahs, stud Rosso and Greg Sture discussed the election of Robert Muller to lead the Justice Department investigation into Russian interference in the US presidential election. They speak with former Massachusetts Governor William Weld and William Banks, director of the Institute for National Security and counter Terrorism

at Syracuse Law School. Director Banks, the office into which he is stepping is different from the office occupied by independent councils like Kenneth Starr and Lawrence Walsh, and I wanted you to explain just what the differences are, how he is not entirely separate from the Justice Department. It's a good question because of is Bob Mueller. The differences that we can identify now aren't going to matter so much because of his tremendous integrity and the reputation that

he brings to this assignment. That said, the regulations now are Justice Department regulations. So unlike the independent councils of old, the Lawrence Walsh and ken Starr investigations and others, this one is not authorized by statute. It's authorized by the department itself. So in theory and in practice, Mueller will report to the Attorney General Governor. Well, one difference is that ken Starr could not be fired by the president. Um As if I understand this correctly, Donald Trump could

actually direct that that Bob Muller be fired. Do you think that will affect his work, make it more difficult for him? No, it's not going to slow him down one iota because he wouldn't care if somebody did the wrong thing and and fired him. He's just going to get to the bottom of it. He would be a complete terrier. Uh. And as I say, it's gonna be, it's gonna be even handed, I would expect. And by the way, special counsel don't have to indict anybody just

because they have that power. And and you know, when I was head of the Criminal Division and Main Justice, I operated under that uh independent council statute and my memory is more often than not no charges were filed, So people shouldn't rush to assume that they're going to be criminal indictments out of this. Uh my, My guess is that under all the circumstances, uh, Mr Mueller might find it appropriate to issue a report of his findings with the FBI's findings at the end of the investigation,

which he certainly has the power to do. I mean, even a grand jury can issue a report of its findings if it if it wants to, and that would I think make everybody feel better. And that's former Massachusetts Governor William Wild and William Banks, director of the Institute for National Security and counter Terrorism at Syracuse Law School, speaking with Bloomberg Lahost doing Grass and Gregg's Store. You can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays at one pm Wall

Street Time here on Bloomberg Radio Now. Among the top legal stories from Bloomberg Law, Huber has threatened to fire the engineer at the center of the driverless car technology legal battle with Weymo. The ride hailing company has told Anthony Lewandowski to either deny taking files from Weimo, his former employer, or turn them over. Lewandowski has told the court he's being forced to choose between his job or

his constitutional rights against self incrimination. A federal judge says he's inclined to approve Wells Fargoes one forty two million dollars settlement with customers over fraudulent accounts. The bank is trying to move past the scandal that erupted last year. More than five thousand employees are fired for creating millions of fake accounts over several years. Wells Fargo already agreed to pay a hundred eighty five million dollars in fines.

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