Local lawmakers react
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam "In these jobs, they're hard enough without creating your own distractions." "And," the governor added, "it's really important to minimize the distractions so you can focus on how hard the jobs are before you. I mean, the problems are different in their very nature. Just being in the Oval Office, it's something every 30 seconds, right. And so I think whether you're a governor, a mayor, a president, anything, the more you can minimize those distractions and focus on the target the better you're going to be." U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) "During his service as FBI Director for both President Bush and President Obama, Robert Mueller earned a reputation for independence and integrity, which are exactly the qualities needed to pursue the Russia investigation to its conclusion. The bipartisan U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence should also continue its investigation and that should include a public hearing with former FBI Director James Comey sooner rather than later." U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, (R.-Tenn.) tweeted at 6:35 p.m. I look forward to hearing from Deputy AG Rosenstein about his decision to appoint a special counsel when he briefs the Senate [Thursday].
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department on Wednesday appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee a federal investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
The appointment came amid a growing Democratic outcry for someone outside the Justice Department to handle the politically charged investigation.
It followed the revelation Tuesday that fired FBI Director James Comey had written in a memo that Trump, in a February meeting in the Oval Office, had asked him to end an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The White House has denied that account.
Mueller was appointed FBI director in 2001 and led the FBI through the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. He retired in 2013.
The Justice Department said Mueller has resigned from his job at a private law firm to take the job of special counsel.
The Justice Department declined to explain the decision-making involved in the appointment.