Dave Kendall, who served as a lawyer for former President Bill Clinton
William (Bill) Jefferson ClintonMueller’s probe doesn't end with a bang, but with a whimper Mark Mellman: History’s judgment Congress should massively ramp up funding for the NIH MORE, rushed to defend special counsel Robert Mueller
Robert Swan MuellerSasse: US should applaud choice of Mueller to lead Russia probe MORE's investigation in an op-ed published Thursday, calling allegations of bias in the probe unfounded.
The op-ed, published by The Washington Post, takes aim at another opinion piece published in the newspaper earlier this week by Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel charged with investigating scandals during Clinton's presidency, in which he argues that Mueller's investigation has been marked by partisan bias against Trump.
"The reasons given for Starr’s reset are wholly specious: There is ostensibly a 'drumbeat of criticism' aimed at special counsel Robert S. Mueller III which 'has become deafening,' including 'cascading revelations of anti-Trump bias,'" Kendall wrote.
"This is true only on Fox News, in President Trump
Donald John TrumpHouse Democrat slams Donald Trump Jr. for ‘serious case of amnesia’ after testimony Skier Lindsey Vonn: I don’t want to represent Trump at Olympics Poll: 4 in 10 Republicans think senior Trump advisers had improper dealings with Russia MORE’s tweets and in the shoe pounding of the Freedom Caucus at legislative hearings," said Kendall, who advised Clinton during impeachment proceedings stemming from Starr's investigation.
Kendall's op-ed comes as Trump's allies and some Republicans on Capitol Hill have called the objectivity and fairness of Mueller's probe into question, following revelations that an FBI agent assigned to the investigation had sent text messages criticizing Trump during the 2016 election.
That agent, Peter Strzok, was removed from the probe over the summer after the Justice Department became aware of the text messages. But the revelation has stilled fueled criticism from Trump and his allies.
Kendall said that the allegations of bias within the FBI and the special counsel investigation were thin, and argued that Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the election should be allowed to continue unimpeded.
"This Russian tampering is a fundamental threat to our democracy, and must be addressed in two ways: by improving our safeguards against foreign manipulation of our electoral process, and by investigating, publicizing and prosecuting past criminal conduct involving this meddling," Kendall wrote.