Letter: Federal investigators must be independent

Cramer, Republican and fervent Trump supporter, does not accept Mueller's role in helping to put alleged Russian interference in our elections, and those involved in it, behind us. Cramer expressed concern that Mueller is "part of that executive state that's not accountable to anybody. ... We're seeing more and more that intel agencies, particularly the FBI, feel like they're not accountable to anybody."

These comments are wrong-headed and extremely troubling.

If investigators are not allowed to be independent and follow all available leads, there would be no point to holding any investigation in the first place. Rep. Cramer needs to understand what "independent" means.

From Black's Law Dictionary: "Not dependent; not subject to control, restriction, modification, or limitation from a given outside source."

From Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition: "1. free from the influence, control, or determination of another or others; specifically, a) free from the rule of another, controlling or governing oneself, self-governing; b) free from influence, persuasion or bias, objective; d) not adhering to any political party or organization."

Mr. Mueller is known to be a decent, honorable man and must be allowed to continue and conclude this investigation. If President Trump and Rep. Cramer find fault with the results of his investigation, they are free to address their concerns to the courts.

Scott Nelson

Grand Forks