The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation on Thursday to protect special counsel Robert Mueller.
Chris Coons, Thom Tillis, Lindsey Graham and Cory Booker, would codify Department of Justice regulations that say only a senior Department of Justice official can fire Mueller or another special counsel.
If a court determines that it wasn't for "Good cause," the special counsel would be reinstated.
The committee also added new reporting requirements into the bill, including notification when a special counsel is appointed or removed and requiring a report be given to Congress after an investigation wraps up; that report would detail the investigation's findings and prosecution decisions.
Sen. Mike Lee blasted the reporting requirements as "Reckless" because it would require a special counsel to hand over the names of individuals who they decided not to prosecute.
"The special counsel must be permitted to complete his investigation. President Trump should not, and I believe will not, end the investigation," Hatch wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday.
The Judiciary Committee voted down an amendment from Cornyn, Hatch and Lee that would have gutted the special counsel bill and replaced it with a non-binding sense of the Senate resolution on allowing Mueller to finish his investigation.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/384990-senate-panel-approves-bill-to-protect-special-counsel
Chris Coons, Thom Tillis, Lindsey Graham and Cory Booker, would codify Department of Justice regulations that say only a senior Department of Justice official can fire Mueller or another special counsel.
If a court determines that it wasn't for "Good cause," the special counsel would be reinstated.
The committee also added new reporting requirements into the bill, including notification when a special counsel is appointed or removed and requiring a report be given to Congress after an investigation wraps up; that report would detail the investigation's findings and prosecution decisions.
Sen. Mike Lee blasted the reporting requirements as "Reckless" because it would require a special counsel to hand over the names of individuals who they decided not to prosecute.
"The special counsel must be permitted to complete his investigation. President Trump should not, and I believe will not, end the investigation," Hatch wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday.
The Judiciary Committee voted down an amendment from Cornyn, Hatch and Lee that would have gutted the special counsel bill and replaced it with a non-binding sense of the Senate resolution on allowing Mueller to finish his investigation.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/384990-senate-panel-approves-bill-to-protect-special-counsel
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