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Congress can appoint a special prosecutor by law. They do not have to wait for AG to do it.
Can you find a link about that? Because everywhere I’ve looked it’s saying that it goes through the AG’s office, unless it’s to investigate retaliation to whistle-blowers.
It’s actually astounding that we still have this problem. There were 2 Congressional reports (the Cox Report and Thompson Report, IIRC) in which Congress strongly recommended a special investigator/prosecutor but Janet Reno held off. Then in 1999 the law was changed so that only the AG’s office could appoint a special investigator/prosecutor. Under Bush’s administration the AG’s office appointed investigators to investigate Cheney, the Plame situation, and other issues. But Janet Reno and Eric Holder were specifically appointed by Clinton and Obama to make sure that nothing ever gets investigated. And they did what their masters told them to do.
The only way that’s going to change in the future is when Congress takes seriously the confirmation process. It can’t just be that they approve whoever the POTUS wants. They need to be sure that the person has exhibited a willingness to prosecute crimes that are AGAINST his/her own political interests. That has to become the criteria for any AG to be confirmed. Either that, or we need to have a way to go around the AG if they end up being a political hack. We can’t allow the system to be taken hostage like this.