The Most Transparent DOJ in History

The Counsel

Vox Media Podcast Network

News, Politics

4.7 • 861 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2026

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Elie Honig is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and co-chief of the organized crime unit at the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted more than 100 mobsters, including members of La Cosa Nostra, and the Gambino and Genovese crime families. He went on to serve as Director of the Department of Law and Public Safety at New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice. He is currently Special Counsel at Lowenstein Sandler and a CNN legal analyst. For a transcript of Elie’s note and the full archive of contributor notes, head to CAFE.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Dell PCs with Intel inside are built for every moment.
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0:16.6	Hey, everyone, Ellie here, wishing you a happy Friday.
0:20.2	Well, before we get to this week's piece, I want to talk briefly about Robert Mueller, who, of course, passed away. I haven't had a chance to talk with you all about this because Mueller passed away on Saturday. Now, luckily, I was able to go on CNN and talk about it and Sirius XM as well during the week. I'm not going to dignify the president's commentary. I think it's a shame
0:38.5	that the president's ridiculous comments have sort of swamped coverage of Mother himself.
0:44.2	When I look back at Robert Mueller's career and legacy, and I did a lot of research. And for my
0:49.3	book, I spoke with many people around him. I spoke with three or four members of his team that investigated
0:55.3	Trump. I spoke with White House lawyers who were opposing him. I spoke to Garrett Graff,
0:59.8	the historian who has covered him. I spoke to Andy McCabe, who worked with him at the FBI.
1:04.3	So I have a good sense of who he was. Part of Robert Mueller's legacy is uncomplicated.
1:14.1	He's an American hero. He was a combat veteran,
1:19.5	wounded in combat in Vietnam, received the Purple Heart, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry,
1:24.3	the Bronze Star. He got shot. He chose to return to combat. He could have come home.
1:29.6	Hero in every sense. Then he becomes a DOJ prosecutor and eventually head of the FBI.
1:34.4	I've said this before and it's in my book, but Robert Mueller is the only person in American history, and I'm sure he will remain so, who was nominated to high positions in DOJ and
1:39.9	the FBI by four consecutive presidents, two Republicans and two Democrats, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama,
1:46.6	and confirmed unanimously by the Senate every time. We will never see that again. He served as the FBI
1:53.3	director with distinction. George W. Bush made him director in 01. It happened to be just a few days
1:59.6	before 9-11. And then when his 10-year term expired in
2:02.9	2011, Barack Obama wanted so badly to keep him that he went to Congress and got permission to extend
	...

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