House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said Thursday that the appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel for the Justice Department’s Russia investigation was “perfectly appropriate.”
“I believe that the professionals at the Justice Department need to do their jobs independently, objectively and throughly, and I believe that the special counsel, which is Robert Mueller now, helps them do that,” Ryan said at his weekly press conference.
Before the Justice Department’s announcement of Mueller’s selection, most Republicans opposed bringing on a special counsel into the investigation. The calls for a special counsel grew after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who was previously overseeing the probe, and after reports that Trump had pressured Comey to drop the probe before firing him.
Ryan said Thursday that the appointment of a special counsel “helps assure people and the Justice Department that they’re going to go do their jobs independently and thoroughly.”
