The pros and cons of appointing a special counsel to prosecute Trump

Saturday reports surfaced that Attorney General Merrick Garland was considering a special counsel to navigate the indictment of Donald Trump, but even that comes with some complications.

The idea also comes after Garland has said that the DOJ is up to the task of investigating the former president, demonstrating that they can operate above the fray of typical partisanship and political rancor, the New York Times explained.

In theory, a special counsel would protect the Justice Department, the report said. The purpose of a special counsel, legally speaking, is for when the DOJ has a conflict of interest in the case.

It would eliminate the direct tie to President Joe Biden and Garland, however, it isn't as if Trump has any problems lying about someone if it means he can defend himself in the public eye. Trump has spent the last several years working to convince Americans not to have faith in government institutions. As some legal analysts explained, it could lead the public to believe that the DOJ couldn't be trusted to run such a case, which is harmful to the other cases around it.

“Our justice system is faced with one of its greatest challenges of its more than 250-year history,” law professor at Penn, Claire Finkelstein said. She's the founder of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law.

While there are problems, the perk of a special counsel is that he or she would have the autonomy to do whatever is necessary to run the investigation as they have more independence than a U.S. attorney. In the end, however, it would still be Garland's decision about whether to charge Trump.

“There is no reason, under federal law, that a former president or a presidential candidate can’t be indicted,” Finkelstein said. “But the nature of our politics has become so polarized that there is no criminal investigation, no indictment, no legal action that won’t be perceived as just another part of the poisonous partisan politics in the U.S. today.”

“Once Trump is more than a former president, but a declared candidate for the presidency, it’s smart for the department to evaluate whether a special counsel is appropriate,” warned prosecutor Andrew D. Goldstein, who worked on Robert Mueller's team.

Read the full report at the New York Times.