Ken Starr Was An Independent Counsel

I'll see your one independent counsel and raise you three (not that it's going to happen):https://t.co/BIrqMELp75 https://t.co/6qgxOkWRqC pic.twitter.com/ojxmQNDqw5

— George Conway🇺🇦 (@gtconway3d) May 24, 2022

John Durham is an independent counsel. Archibald Cox was an independent counsel. Nixon fired him, which made Cox the most useful independent counsel in American history (there Nixon’s real troubles began). Lawrence Walsh was the independent counsel for Iran/Contra. Poppy Bush saved his hide and ended Walsh’s investigation as he left Washington. Robert Mueller was an independent counsel. His investigation, sound as it was, resulted in the conviction of Paul Manafort.

What have IC’s ever accomplished? Mueller was the exemplar of a prosecutor who adheres strictly to the limits of his authority. Starr and Dunham prove a prosecutor with no limits will find someone to prosecute for some reason. That’s the very reason we don’t give prosecutors a remit to pursue an investigation until a crime is found; some crime, any crime.

And yet we think independent counsels will do justice with alacrity and equity. Of the independent counsels I listed, only three brought their investigations to an end with prosecutions, only two in court. And no regular prosecutor would have pursued two of those three cases, because they weren’t worth pursuing.

But an independent counsel or three against our enemies is always just what the justice system calls for. Because when we cry “LOCK ‘EM UP!”, it’s a good thing.