Bill Bennett: Mueller Decision 'Rife With Potential Mischief'

Bringing former FBI Director Robert Mueller in as a special counsel to lead the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election is "rife with potential mischief," former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett said Thursday.

"You are giving the guy the car, the keys, credit card for gas all year," Bennett, now a Fox News commentator, told the "Fox & Friends" program. "He becomes one of the two or three most powerful people in the country, simply by being named."

However, Bennett said that if a special counsel had to be named, Mueller is 'as good as Republicans and Donald Trump could hope for."

"He is a man of unquestionable integrity," said Bennett. "At Princeton he was a lacrosse player, a jock. More important, [he was] a Marine, a decorated Marine, a Bronze Star in Vietnam."

It could be argued, Bennett admitted, that Mueller could be considered "part of the swamp," but he's still the "part of the swamp that could be trusted, so I think it's good news on that front."

And if Trump did collude with Russia, "and I don't think he did, Mueller is bad news because he will get to it," said Bennett.

With Muller in charge of the investigation, the constant stream of news about it will also likely go quiet, said Bennett.

"Mueller will not give press conferences," he said. "This should at least tone down the volume of the Democrats. It may not because, you know, they are infected with some kind of disorientation syndrome in regard to Donald Trump ... this will calm them down for 30 or 40 minutes and then they will start screaming. There is now a good response to the screaming which is let the special counsel do his work."

Bennett said he believes Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who had argued last week that he believed the FBI could investigate the case on its own without a special counsel, changed his mind to protect his reputation. Rosenstein, he explained, took much of the blame for Trump's decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey.

• Sources: Trump Campaign Had at Least 18 Undisclosed Contacts With Russians
• WSJ: 'Politically Unaccountable' Special Prosecutor a 'Mistake'