Speaker 1: Well, now it's time for our daily Bloomberg Lab Brief,
Speaker 1: exploring legal issues in the news. It's brought to you
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Speaker 1: dot org. Today Bloomberg, Lahs, stud Rosso and Greg Sture
Speaker 1: discussed the election of Robert Muller to lead the Justice
Speaker 1: Department investigation into Russian interference in the US presidential election.
Speaker 1: They speak with former Massachusetts Governor William Weld and William Banks,
Speaker 1: director of the Institute for National Security and counter Terrorism
Speaker 1: at Syracuse Law School. Director Banks, the office into which
Speaker 1: he is stepping is different from the office occupied by
Speaker 1: independent councils like Kenneth Starr and Lawrence Walsh, and I
Speaker 1: wanted you to explain just what the differences are, how
Speaker 1: he is not entirely separate from the Justice Department. It's
Speaker 1: a good question because of is Bob Mueller. The differences
Speaker 1: that we can identify now aren't going to matter so
Speaker 1: much because of his tremendous integrity and the reputation that
Speaker 1: he brings to this assignment. That said, the regulations now
Speaker 1: are Justice Department regulations. So unlike the independent councils of old,
Speaker 1: the Lawrence Walsh and ken Starr investigations and others, this
Speaker 1: one is not authorized by statute. It's authorized by the
Speaker 1: department itself. So in theory and in practice, Mueller will
Speaker 1: report to the Attorney General Governor. Well, one difference is
Speaker 1: that ken Starr could not be fired by the president.
Speaker 1: Um As if I understand this correctly, Donald Trump could
Speaker 1: actually direct that that Bob Muller be fired. Do you
Speaker 1: think that will affect his work, make it more difficult
Speaker 1: for him? No, it's not going to slow him down
Speaker 1: one iota because he wouldn't care if somebody did the
Speaker 1: wrong thing and and fired him. He's just going to
Speaker 1: get to the bottom of it. He would be a
Speaker 1: complete terrier. Uh. And as I say, it's gonna be,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be even handed, I would expect. And by
Speaker 1: the way, special counsel don't have to indict anybody just
Speaker 1: because they have that power. And and you know, when
Speaker 1: I was head of the Criminal Division and Main Justice,
Speaker 1: I operated under that uh independent council statute and my
Speaker 1: memory is more often than not no charges were filed,
Speaker 1: So people shouldn't rush to assume that they're going to
Speaker 1: be criminal indictments out of this. Uh my, My guess
Speaker 1: is that under all the circumstances, uh, Mr Mueller might
Speaker 1: find it appropriate to issue a report of his findings
Speaker 1: with the FBI's findings at the end of the investigation,
Speaker 1: which he certainly has the power to do. I mean,
Speaker 1: even a grand jury can issue a report of its
Speaker 1: findings if it if it wants to, and that would
Speaker 1: I think make everybody feel better. And that's former Massachusetts
Speaker 1: Governor William Wild and William Banks, director of the Institute
Speaker 1: for National Security and counter Terrorism at Syracuse Law School,
Speaker 1: speaking with Bloomberg Lahost doing Grass and Gregg's Store. You
Speaker 1: can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays at one pm Wall
Speaker 1: Street Time here on Bloomberg Radio Now. Among the top
Speaker 1: legal stories from Bloomberg Law, Huber has threatened to fire
Speaker 1: the engineer at the center of the driverless car technology
Speaker 1: legal battle with Weymo. The ride hailing company has told
Speaker 1: Anthony Lewandowski to either deny taking files from Weimo, his
Speaker 1: former employer, or turn them over. Lewandowski has told the
Speaker 1: court he's being forced to choose between his job or
Speaker 1: his constitutional rights against self incrimination. A federal judge says
Speaker 1: he's inclined to approve Wells Fargoes one forty two million
Speaker 1: dollars settlement with customers over fraudulent accounts. The bank is
Speaker 1: trying to move past the scandal that erupted last year.
Speaker 1: More than five thousand employees are fired for creating millions
Speaker 1: of fake accounts over several years. Wells Fargo already agreed
Speaker 1: to pay a hundred eighty five million dollars in fines.
Speaker 1: And that's this morning's Bloomberg Lawbrary. If you can find
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