Oh what a deep state web is weaved when law is practiced to deceive
#21
In keeping with that principle, USAM 1-7.530 instructs Department personnel
that, except in unusual circumstances, they “shall not respond to questions about
the existence of an ongoing investigation or comment on its nature or progress,
including such things as the issuance or serving of a subpoena, prior to the public
filing of the document.” …
#24
In a January 2000 letter from the Department’s AAG for OLA to then
Congressman John Linder (“Linder letter”), the Department described in detail the
principles that guide OLA and the Department in their decision to disclose or
withhold information from Congress. The letter remains a reference guide for OLA.
The Linder letter lays out “governing principles” to foster “improved
communications and sensitivity between the Executive and Legislative Branches
regarding our respective institutional needs and interests.” After discussing the
general tension between the interests of the two branches, the Linder letter
examines the “inherent threat to the integrity of the Department’s law enforcement
and litigation functions” that comes from congressional inquiries during pending
investigations. …
#25
V. Special Counsel Regulations
Since the 1999 lapse of the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act,
Department regulations govern the process of appointing a special counsel. 28
U.S.C. §§ 591-599, 64 Fed. Reg. 37,038 (1999). According to 28 C.F.R. § 600.1,
the Attorney General (or Acting Attorney General) may appoint a special counsel for
the criminal investigation of a person or matter when it would be in the public
interest and there exists a Department conflict of interest or other extraordinary
circumstance.
The regulations provide that the Attorney General need not appoint a special
counsel immediately when a possible conflict emerges. Instead, the Attorney
General may authorize further investigation or mitigation efforts, such as recusal.
See 28 C.F.R. § 600.2. The special counsel must come from outside the
government…