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Mueller’s probe must include more than Trump to be complete

A chorus of top Democrats have been demanding an independent prosecutor be commissioned to investigate Russian tampering with the 2016 presidential election. On Wednesday, they got their wish with appointment of former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to probe the issue.

That’s fine. By all means, let us have a comprehensive, independent probe of links between Russian officials and U.S. politicians.

But let’s not limit this to the Democrats obstructionist obsession with President Trump and Russia. Let’s investigate attempts to influence elections in general, by American as well as foreign leaders?

President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey spurred some Democrats to accuse the White House of attempting to stymie a federal investigation of Russian election tampering. Though there is not a shred of evidence the Trump campaign cooperated in any way with Moscow in doing that, the president’s foes are hoping they can find something to pin on Trump.

Comey was fired for egregious political conduct while at the FBI. His behavior was simply beyond the bounds of what is acceptable. His testimony during the past week before Congress — so flawed at one point that the Justice Department had to issue a correction — clearly prompted Trump to decide the time to fire Comey had come.

But Mueller should look into other questions. One involves Russian payments to the Clinton Foundation as then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton avoided blocking Moscow’s move to corner the world uranium market. Another involves President Barack Obama’s attempt to sway an Israeli election. And, of course, there is the still-unresolved issue of Clinton’s lapses in handling government secrets that may have helped the Russians.

Finally, we would hope Mueller’s probe will take a hard look at the leaking of intelligence and unmasking of individuals to foreign enemies that has been going on since Trump took office.

If all that is on the table — it should be — Democrats may find the investigation is as much about them as anyone else. And it should be.

After all, it was Comey himself who outlined details last summer on Hillary Clinton that should have merited referral of charges to the Justice Department regarding her use of a private e-mail server to share intelligence while Secretary of State. The Obama administration response was a meeting on a tarmac between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton and, after that, crickets.

Mueller should follow the facts and the truth wherever they lead him. But credibility should be a high bar that pertains to both major political parties, not just Republicans. Because simply disliking someone, or the results of a presidential race, or a political agenda that includes attempts to revive a failing system in Washington, do not constitute a credible probe.

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