Rand Paul: ‘I would not have appointed Mueller’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Wednesday that he would not have appointed special counsel Robert Mueller, adding that special counsels wield too much power.

“I think special prosecutors have too much power and that we really shouldn’t have them. I would not have appointed Mueller,” Paul told Fox News on Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday, President Trump repeated his claim that a special counsel investigation into Russian election meddling should never have been started because there was no collusion.

“Special Council is told to find crimes, whether a crime exists or not. I was opposed to the selection of Mueller to be Special Council. I am still opposed to it. I think President Trump was right when he said there never should have been a Special Council appointed because…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2018

…there was no probable cause for believing that there was any crime, collusion or otherwise, or obstruction of justice!” So stated by Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2018

Paul added that Mueller should not investigate outside of the question of whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.

{mosads}“There really is no reason why Mueller is investigating things other than Russian collusion. If there is no Russian collusion, he should wind up, close his investigation, let’s move on,” Paul said.

Mueller’s mandate from the Justice Department gives him the authority to bring charges for any crimes discovered during his investigation.

Paul echoed Trump’s comments by calling the investigation a “witch hunt,” adding that there needs to be more control over the intelligence community.

“Nobody — nobody on either side, nobody in the intelligence community — should search an American’s record without a judge’s warrant,” Paul said.

On Tuesday, Paul said he was concerned about the politicization of the Russian investigation and the intelligence community in general.