Attorney General Jeff Session’s comments about the possibility of a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton are sparking fears from current and former Justice Department officials who are alarmed the agency will become further politicized, the Washington Post is reporting.
Sessions said on Tuesday he will look at the recommendations from senior prosecutors before he decides whether to appoint a special counsel to investigate a controversial uranium company deal and other issues relating to Clinton and the Clinton Foundation.
If he does follow through with a special counsel appointment, it would come as special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether associates of Donald Trump colluded with Russians to meddle in the presidential election, the newspaper noted.
"To have the winning side exploring the possibility of prosecuting the losing side in an election — it’s un-American, and grotesque," said John Danforth, a one-time special counsel who probed the FBI’s role in a violent standoff with a cult in Waco, Texas. "The proliferation of special counsels in a political setting is very, very bad."
And if one is appointed to probe Clinton, "I think the vast majority of people at DOJ would be completely disgusted and demoralized by it,’" added Peter Zeidenberg, who had served as deputy special counsel in the probe of former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
"They don’t like feeling that they are political tools to be used by the president."
President Donald Trump has been pushing for an investigation of Clinton. He tweeted earlier this month:
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