When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ's Pursit of the President, From Nixon to Trump

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For decades, the Department of Justice has appointed Special Counsels to resolve our most difficult, high-stakes cases involving our most powerful politicians. But do these independent legal investigators, who operate at the intersection of politics and the law, lead to more just results

Federal prosecutors at the United States Department of Justice are fond of saying they treat all criminal cases, and all subjects, without fear or favor. But the DOJs most explosive, highest-profile criminal investigations and prosecutions have been conducted differently. When the stakes are the highest, DOJ literally operates by a different set of rules: the Special Counsel regulations.

In this hard-hitting analysis, CNN Senior Legal Analyst and bestselling author Elie Honig chronicles the history of outside prosecutors and the Justice Departments most consequential political casesHonig offers new insights into the machinations of American government with original reporting, including over 25 on-record interviews with historic figures who worked directly on our most important cases, including prosecutors, defense lawyers, and targets and subjects ofinvestigations by outside prosecutors

Going back to Watergate and the Iran-Contra scandal, through Ken Starrs investigation of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Honig reveals how the Special Counsel system developed, and why the number of investigations has rapidly risen in recent years. He looks closely into cases involving Robert Mueller, John Durham, Jack Smith, Robert Hur, and others, covering each of the major Special Counsel investigations in modern history, considering them not merely as freestanding prosecutions, but as part of an ongoing historical development.

While each major Special Counsel case rests on its own merits, these investigations collectively test the Justice Departments foundational policies and principles. In its most dramatic, politically consequential cases, DOJ changes its own practices in ways that are at once both necessary and problematic. The question is: What would happen if we got rid of the Special Counsel, and can the system evolve to better serve the call for justice in a constantly-changing political environment

Author Bio

Elie Honig is the author of Hatchet Man and Untouchable. He worked as a federal and state prosecutor for fourteen years. He prosecuted and tried cases involving violent crime, human trafficking, public corruption, and organized crime, and successfully prosecuted over 100 members and associates of the mafia. Honig is CNN's Emmy-nominated Senior Legal Analyst, writes a weekly column for New York Magazine and Caf, hosts podcasts on the law and true crime for Vox Media, is a Rutgers University scholar, and is special counsel to the law firm Lowenstein Sandler. He lives in New Jersey.