Politics

The Department of Justice has announced the appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to oversee the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, including potential collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials.

Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made the decision to appoint Mueller, the Justice Department told reporters Wednesday. It isn’t clear if Trump had a role in the decision, Bloomberg reported.

Having done the "good cop" routine earlier today, when it explained why a Trump impeachment is "very, very unlikely" despite growing media speculation that VP Mike Pence may be preparing to step into the Oval Office, now it's JPMorgan's turn to play bad cop when previewing "what comes next" for both markets and politics. The reason for that is that according to JPM's Adam Crisafulli is that question is "one of the market's problems" because there simply "isn't any quick action that would help to alter the narrative in Washington" resulting in a quick and painless resolution.

Authored Op-Ed via The Wall Street Journal,

The state of the Trump Presidency has been perpetual turbulence, which seems to be how the principal likes it. The latest vortex is over Mr. Trump’s disclosure of sensitive intel to the Russians—and whatever the particulars of the incident, the danger is that Presidencies can withstand only so much turbulence before they come apart.

Appearing on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning, the former CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch, offered some rather ominous market predictions in the event of a Trump impeachment:

"An impeachment proceeding would blow the market away."

And while he doesn't seem to be in the impeachment camp, Welch also took aim at Trump saying that he's "on the right agenda" but has "crappy management practices."

In what may be the most material development of the day, moments ago GOP Representative Justin Amash (R-Mich.) said the report that President Trump pressured ousted FBI Director James Comey to end an investigation would merit impeachment if true, becoming the first Republican lawmaker to break from the party and hint at impeachment.

Amash tells reporters that if Comey memo allegations are true, it's grounds for impeachment. Says he trusts Comey more than Trump.