There has been a clamor among Democratic officials for an independent prosecutor (or commission) to investigate the ties between Russia and Donald Trump (especially regarding Russian interference in the 2016 campaign on behalf of Trump). Trump's firing of James Comes as FBI director just as the investigation was picking up steam has just lent credence to those calls.
The Republicans don't want a special prosecutor or commission, and they continue to block any efforts to create an independent bipartisan commission or appoint an independent prosecutor. Are they afraid of what an independent prosecutor or commission might uncover? Are they trying to cover for Trump?
That seems to be the perception of the general public. Only a tiny 15% say they want the Republican-dominated Congress to investigate the Russian scandal, while a whopping 78% say they would prefer an independent bipartisan commission or special prosecutor to investigate.
Most interesting to me is the 15% who want Congress to do the investigation. That's only about half of the country's Republicans (and Republican leaners) -- which means about half of Republicans would rather see an independent prosecutor or commission to do the investigation. I don't blame them. I think they don't want to go into next year's election with the perception looming that their elected officials were trying to cover for Trump in the scandal.
That chart above shows the results from an NBC News / Wall Street Journal Poll -- done between May 11th and 13th of a random national sample of 800 adults, with a margin of error of 3.5 points.
