Former FBI chief Mueller to head Trump-Russia probe

The US Justice Department named former FBI chief Robert Mueller on Wednesday as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election and possible collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Moscow.

The move followed a week in which the White House was thrown into uproar after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. Democrats and some of the president's fellow Republicans had demanded an independent probe of whether Russia tried to sway the outcome of November's election in favour of Trump and against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump responded by once again denying any links to Moscow, but the appointment of a special counsel with sweeping powers dramatically raises the stakes in a crisis threatening to paralyse his presidency.

"As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know - there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity," he said.

Special counsel is a position that exists under a statute that allows the attorney general or a deputy, if the attorney general is recused, to mount an independent investigation. This particular provision has been invoked only once before, in the Bill Clinton administration, when former Senator John Danforth was to investigate the Branch Davidian siege outside Waco, Texas.

Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein made the decision to appoint Mueller. It was a letter from Rosenstein that the Trump administration initially presented last week as a central factor in the firing of James Comey as FBI director.

In an order announcing Mueller’s appointment, Rosenstein explained he had taken the decision “to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election,” including “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.”

“My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted,” Rosenstein wrote in a separate letter. “I have made no such determination. What I have determined is that based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command.”

Mueller, 72, was appointed FBI director by George W Bush and served 12 years, including for the majority of Barack Obama’s presidency. He said in a statement on Wednesday: “I accept this responsibility and will discharge it to the best of my ability.”

Pressure on the White House intensified after Trump fired Comey, who had been leading a federal probe into the matter, and allegations that Trump had asked Comey to end the FBI investigation into ties between Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Russia. That raised questions about whether the President improperly attempted to interfere with a federal investigation.