Justice Department appoints special counsel — for Trump-Russia probe, not Clinton emails

On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump repeatedly promised to ask the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton's email use.

Well, on May 18, 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed a special counsel with authority to prosecute — and Trump didn't even have to ask for it.

That's because this special counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, isn't looking into Clinton. He is instead charged with investigating Russia's interference in the election and any coordination there may have been with Trump's presidential campaign.

Trump has repeatedly said the Russia storyline is "made-up" and a "scam."

"This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!" Trump tweeted May 18, the morning after Mueller's appointment.

He also complained on Twitter that a special counsel wasn't appointed for the Clinton scandal or what Trump called "illegal acts" during President Barack Obama's administration.

"With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel appointed!"

Mueller's appointment comes a week after Trump fired James Comey, Mueller's successor at the FBI.

The White House initially said Trump fired Comey because of how he handled the Clinton investigation, detailed in a May 9 memo by Rosenstein.

But two days later, Trump said he would have fired Comey regardless of Rosenstein's recommendation, and he had the Russia investigation on his mind when he made the decision.

This development doesn't warrant a change on the Trump-O-Meter. Trump hasn't backed away completely from his promise to ask Attorney General Jeff Sessions to appoint a special counsel to look into Clinton's email, and Trump still brings up Clinton's transgressions with some frequency. But it seems unlikely to happen any time soon.

This promise remains Stalled.