I think the whole thing is about to implode. Reports say Rod Rosenstein signed at least one of the FISA applications requesting wiretap on Trump team. This makes him either a co-conspirator or a material witness. In either case if the reports are true he should have recused himself. He violated legal and ethical standards by staying on to appoint Mueller.
From which follows more problems. Rod didn’t recuse himself and instead appointed Mueller. Mueller is neck deep in all kinds of muck. For example he was FBI director, will he do an honest job or try to protect his people, agency, reputation? As director Mueller knew all about the Russian bribes that resulted in $145 million to CF and the sale of Uranium One. That is just two of a whole slew of conflicts.
It doesn’t matter if it is true or not - all that matters is that there is potential impropriety due to conflicting interests. How do we know that Rod and Mueller are not active participants in an ongoing conspiracy to obstruct justice among other crimes, covering up their misdeeds as officials in high office?
Then add in the legal technicalities for example Rod needed to state a crime for the special prosecutor to investigate but failed to do so. He appointed Mueller to go on a fishing expedition which is abuse of power (at least) and further raises suspicion that Mueller and Rod have ulterior, personal motives. The close relationship between the parties is another conflict. Rod claims only he has the power to fire Mueller which is an affront to the office of POTUS. And there is a pattern here of the FBI going soft on Hillary (and the DNC) many times, whitewashing crimes going back before Comey was director.
Put all this together and I think you have a solid reason to appoint a second special prosecutor to investigate this cabal of Rod, Mueller, Comey, McCabe, Strzok, the 16 people who met with McCabe to plot a conspiracy against Trump, and CIA director Brennan and possibly others in the Obama DOJ. That may not happen, and in any case I think this will collapse under its own weight. If they perjured themselves, obstructed justice, falsified evidence etc then they will probably be unable to hide it and justice will eventually come around - they all probably know this already, too.
I share each of your concerns about both Rosenstein and Mueller. Both have histories that justify the concerns. But I’m hoping that Huber’s investigation branches out to encompass all of the obvious crimes that have been committed and that appointment of a special counsel can be avoided. This needs to break soon, not after the next election, and a special counsel will just slow things down.
As long as Huber and Horowitz are honest people they have all the powers necessary to do what any special counsel could accomplish, plus then there’s the issue of who would be chosen for that job. I’m personally comfortable with both Huber and Horowitz from what I’ve read. Maybe I’ll be wrong in that regard.
As for Mueller and Rosenstein, look, we’re not going all the way back to investigate their histories of mismanagement (and probably worse). But it’s possible that both have been put on notice that that is still an option, and it’s possible that they have agreed to cooperate with Sessions (and Trump) as long as they are assured of being left alone in the present investigations. That’s a stretch, I know, but it’s the compromise I’ve made between judging them as either White Hats or Black Hats in all this.
If either were a White Hat by now, I’d be skeptical given their pasts, but if either were a Black Hat today I really don’t think they’d be in their current positions. They’d have been treated like the other Black Hats, reassigned and given non-investigative duties, or encouraged to retire or resign. Again, I could be being too optimistic here and share your concern about each of them. Not that what either of us thinks matters a hoot, of course.