Results of Pegasus World Cup Invitational Races

The results of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational were - interesting.  The day was a washout, quite literally, with rain falling for much of the day.  A lot of horses were making their final race before entering stallion or brood mare duties.  And the two huge purses - $7 million for the Turf and $9 million for the dirt - drew a lot of interest.   ...   Let me get down to business.

There were ten entries in the Turf race, which was run on a "yielding" course.  The 1 3/8 mile race (11 furlongs) was won in a time of 1:54.59 by Bricks and Mortar, a 5-year-old horse by Giant's Causeway.  Bricks and Mortar was 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Magic Wand, the 4-year-old Irish filly sired by Galileo.  Magic Wand was a neck in front of Delta Prince, a 6-year-old horse sired by Street Cry; who was 1 3/4 lengths before Catapult, a 6-year-old horse by Kitten's Joy. 
   A $2 win bet on Bricks and Mortar paid $7.60;  the same place bet paid $9 for Magic Wand (IRE); and a $2 show bet on Delta Prince paid $6.60.  The (all $2 bets) exacta paid $60.40; the trifecta paid $404; and the superfecta paid $2,396.80.
   The full order of finish - with dollar winnings - was: (1) Bricks and Mortar ($2,656,250); (2) Magic Wand -IRE ($796,875);  (3) Delta Prince ($575,521); (4) Catapult ($486,975); (5) Channel Maker ($442,708); (6) Yoshida - JPN, (7) Next Shares, (8) Dubby Dubbie, (9) Aerolithe - JPN, and (10) Fahan Mura. For finishers 6 through 10, the purse earning was $350,000.

   Pictured below, in order, are: Bricks and Mortar, Magic Wand, and Delta Prince:

The post time for the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (dirt) race was moved up 7 minutes due to increasing darkness due to the rain storms.  The full field of 12 ran the 1 1/8 miles (9 furlongs), with a winning time of 1:47.71 produced by City of Light, a 5-year-old horse sired by Quality Road.  City of Light finished the wet, muddy race 5 3/4 lengths ahead of Seeking the Soul, a 6-year-old horse sired by Perfect Soul (IRE).  One and a half lengths behind Seeking the Soul, was 6-year-old Accelerate, the son of Lookin' At Lucky, who was 4 3/4 lengths ahead of Bravazo, a 4-year-old colt by Awesome Again.

   Payouts for $2 bets were as follows:  a win bet on City of Light, $5.80; a place bet on Seeking the Soul, $19.20; a show bet on Accelerate, $2.80.  For the exotics: the exacta paid $82.20, the trifecta paid $210.40, and the superfecta paid $1,357.

   The full order of finish, with purse payouts, follows:  (1) City of Light ($4 million); (2) Seeking the Soul ($1.25 million); (3) Accelerate ($900,000); (4) Bravazo ($700,000); (5) Audible ($550,000); (6) Gunnevera ($250,000); (7) True Timber ($250,000); (8) Imperative ($250,000); (9) Tom's d'Etat ($250,000); (10) Something Awesome ($200,000); (11) Kukulkan - MEX ($200,000); and (12) Patternrecognition ($200,000).

The following photos are, in order, City of Light, Seeking the Soul, and Accelerate:

Great Racing At Gulfstream Park, With 2 Pegasus Races Worth a Total of $16 Million

Today, or tomorrow, depending on when and where you are reading this, on 26 January, Gulfstream Park Race Track will conduct 12 races for thoroughbred horses.  Many are stakes races, with big money purses, and they have drawn top horses from around the country.  The two Pegasus Invitational races have drawn entries from around the world, and the races are drawing world-wide television coverage.  NBC will be covering the two Invitational Races live, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. EST.

For the two Pegasus races, I am listing: Post position; Horse's name; (Sire's name); age and sex; assigned weight; and morning betting odds.

  The first Pegasus race is the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Turf Stakes.  The distance to be run is 1 3/8 miles (11 furlongs) on the turf course; the guaranteed purse is $7 million; and the post time is 4:51.    This is a handicap race, which takes into consideration the horse's age, sex, and past racing performances.  Assigned weights range between 112 pounds and 124 pounds for 10 entries.
  1.    Magic Wand (IRE)     (Galileo-IRE)             4yo filly       112        9 to 2
  2.    Yoshida (JPN)            (Heart's Cry-JPN)      5yo horse     124       5 to 2
  3.    Channel Maker          (English Channel)       5yo geld       117       12 to 1
  4.    Aerolithe (JPN)          (Kurofune)                  5 yo mare     112        8 to 1
  5.    Next Shares                (Archarcharch)           6yo geld       124        15 to 1
  6.    Fahan Mura                (English Channel)      5yo mare      119        30 to 1 
  7.    Bricks and Mortar      (Giant's Causeway)    5 yo horse     124       5 to 1
  8.    Delta Prince               (Street Cry-IRE)          6yo horse      124       15 to 1
  9.    Catapult                      (Kitten's Joy)               6yo horse     124        7 to 2
 10.   Dubby Dubbie            (Ice Box)                      4yo geld       124       30 to 1


  The second Pegasus race is the Pegasus World Cup Invitation Stakes.  The distance to be run is 1 1/8 miles (9 furlongs) on the main dirt track;   the guaranteed purse is $9 million; all horses are male, and all carry the same weight of 124 pounds in the race.  Post time is scheduled for 5:36 for 12 entries.
  1.   Bravazo                        (Awesome Again)       4yo colt          12 to 1
  2.   Something Awesome   (Awesome Again)        8yo geld         20 to 1
  3.   City of Light                (Quality Road)            5yo horse        5 to 2
  4.   Seeking the Soul          (Perfect Soul-IRE)      6yo horse        12 to 1
  5.   Accelerate                    (Lookin' At Lucky)       6yo horse         9 to 5
  6.   Tom's d'Etat                 (Smart Strike)              6yo horse        20 to 1
  7.   True Timber                 (Mineshaft)                  5yo horse        30 to 1
  8.   Gunnevera                   (Dialed In)                   5yo horse         8 to 1
  9.   Kukulkan (MEX)        (Point Determined)      4yo colt           30 to 1
 10.  Audible                       (Into Mischief)              4yo colt           10 to 1
 11.  Imperative                   (Bernardini)                  9yo geld          30 to 1
 12.  Patternrecognition       (Adios Charlie)             6yo horse        10 to 1

Have fun at the races!

 

Favorite Artwork - Photos and Paintings

Confrontation On the National Mall

A lot of applications for marches and gatherings were approved for Friday, 18 January, on the National Mall in Washington, D. C.  The two most notable, due to later events, was the March for Life, a march and get-together for people against abortion, and the Indigenous Peoples March, for Native Americans to protest their lack of respect, lands, and laws from the white immigrants who took over and raped their land. (From that statement alone, you know where my heart lies.) 
   There are three groups of people in this story.  A group of all white male students from Covington Catholic High School, a private all-male college preparatory school in Covington, Kentucky, were waiting for their bus to pick them up after their participation in the March for Life.  A small group of men, members of the Black Hebrew Israelites, had also met on the National Mall to speak out about their religion, and their perceived mistreatment by other religious groups and the media.  And Native Americans at the Indigenous Peoples March were represented by many tribal elders, spiritual leaders, and speakers, as well as everyday tribal members.
   The group of Catholic boys, many wearing red MAGA hats, drew the attention of the Black Hebrew Israelites.  The BHI group began taunting and shouting abuse at the group of boys.  After a few minutes of verbal abuse, the boys began shouting back.  Racial epithets were yelled by both sides.  The Natives Americans had finished their March, and approaching the two groups, heard and saw their strife.  Nathan Phillips, an elder in the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, a singer and drummer, and someone who served in the US Marine Corp from 1972 through 1976 observed the loud clash.  Phillips decided to approach the two groups, and insert himself, playing his drum and singing the American Indian Movement Song, to try to create unity and to break down the hostility between the two groups.
   At first, this seemed to work.  Both sides quieted and looked at him and his friends.  Both groups, the boys and the Israelites backed up, making space between them.  Nathan Phillips continued his singing and drumming, and walked between the two groups. Hoping to create peace between them, he stopped and sang.  The BHI group backed away.  But, after a minute, a young man from the Catholic school group walked up to the singer, entered his personal space, and proceeded to paste a very strange smile upon his face.
  As Phillips continued to sing and play his drum, the young man appeared to lean even more into his personal space, with the smile staying in place.  Then his friends from the Catholic school began gathering in a tight group around him and the singer.  The boys began making the infamous Tomahawk Chop sign and making the sounds from the Florida State University's War Song.  After this they began chanting "Build the Wall" as well as "Trump 2020" - all specifically pointed at a Tribal Elder who was trying to defuse a racially-charged situation between this group of young white men and a smaller group of adult Black Hebrew Israelites.
   We know the Tribal Elder and singer was Nathan Phillips.  We found out the young man is Nick Sandmann, in the 11th grade at Covington Catholic High School.  As soon as the incident became a sensation on Facebook and YouTube, Sandmann's family hired a public relations team to shine up his image and coach him for any interviews he might have. (The public relations group is partially owned by a conservative columnist and commentator who occasionally appears on CNN.)
   (A personal aside - the smile, smirk, grin, rictus of the face, or whatever you want to call it, which Nick Sandmann had plastered on his face as he stood squarely in front of Nathan Phillips and refused to move, made me think of a great white shark...)

Nick Sandmann at left, Nathan Phillips at right.

Still photo taken from video by Kaya Taitano.

   Nathan Phillips is known as a peaceful man, and one who wishes for serenity for all.  He has stated, many times, since the incident that he went between the two groups to promote peace and to calm the situation down, as the intensity seemed to be rising.  Having watched a 20 minutes section of video several times, I think that was what he was doing - and might have accomplished, had not Sandmann decided to confront him, the pacifier.  Immediately after the event, Sandmann stated that during the entire time he was being respectful and that his friends did nothing wrong or hurtful.
    Nick Sandmann was interviewed on NBC by Savannah Guthrie.  In my opinion, the interview was a bust.  the boy had been well coached and knew all the right words to use, even though they sounded odd, coming from his mouth.  I think the most honest moment in the conversation was when she asked the boy to explain the meaning of his smirk.  Showing him a still photo, she asked "What do you think this looks like?"  Sandmann replied, "I see it as a smile saying that, this is the best you're going to get out of me. You get any further reaction of aggression.  And I'm willing to stand here as long as you want to hit this drum in my face."  (I wonder if he meant to say "no" further reaction, rather than any?)  Instead of pushing back against his plainly rehearsed replies, Guthries showed the video of his classmates making tomahawk chops, and the boy claimed he wasn't aware of that happening.
    One of the most interesting things that Nick Sandmann did say was that he "wished he could have left."  Could have left?  What was keeping him there?  He was not rooted to that spot, he could easily have backed up and walked away.  He was enjoying being in the spotlight, the center of attention of all the cameras.
    In researching the Covington Catholic High School and it's past, a photo and video were found from 2012, of a group of CCHS students at a basketball game, yelling at an African-American opponent.  I admit, it is the student cheering section, and I understand the idea of "Black-out Night" (as the local university's colors are black and gold) - but there are students in the photo wearing black face paint, and one of them is making a white supremacy sign with his hand in said photo right in front of the black opponent.  That is disgusting.

***********************

  One thing that has been discovered - this photo was posted and re-tweeted by a Twitter account that has since been taken down.  The Twitter account was used on an average of 130 times per day, and most of the content was divisive to America as a whole.

  The tweet, and this confrontation, IS divisive and subversive to our American way of life.  We Americans should be like the Three Musketeers - "All for one, and one for all!"

Great Illustrations

Lying By the Numbers...

It's taken several days for the Blogger page to let me back on to post again...  Today I'm going on a political tear, so if you do not like the current President, read on.
  The 45th President was sworn into office in a ceremony that began at noon on 20 January 2017. The second anniversary of his swearing in happened a little over two days ago. On 20 January 2019, the orange monstrosity had been "serving" as President of the United States for 730 days, or 17,520 hours. As far as we know, he has not been golfing since the partial government shutdown began 33 days ago.  The people at The Washington Post, the very same newspaper that broke the story of Watergate back in 1972, has been keeping count of how many outright lies and "misstatements" of truth which have poured from the President's mouth.
  At the two year mark - 730 days, or 17,520 hours - the number of lies and misstatements was totaled at 8,158.  The President did not lie on 82 of those days - they were days he was golfing.  The press has no idea what kind of lies he did, or did not, make while out golfing with his cronies.  The 8,158 lies and misstatements of fact that he made were things that were stated publicly, on camera. By doing simple math, one learns that the President of the United States lies 12.589506 times each day he has spoken in public; or 1.906 times in each hour of the day.
   Of course, we also know that he usually only arrives in the Oval Office "to work" at about 11:30 each morning, and he is back watching television in his bedroom by 5:00 each night.  So, if we ignore the time he spends eating his daily lunch, he spends 5 1/2 hours each day "working" and telling lies to the nation that elevated him to the Presidency. If he makes all of his public comments during those hours that he "works," which means he was working 3,564 hours in the last two years, then he was spouting lies and misstatements at the rate of 2.289 per hour, or a little over 9 every 4 hours....
  So, if this person in the White House is "working" in his office 5 1/2 hours each day, then he's off, doing his own person stuff, for 18 1/2 hours a day.  He's watching the Fox News networks, he's tweeting, he's making personal phone call to his friends and people around the world (including world leaders) on an unsecured cell phone.  He's eating his fast food from McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Domino's Pizza, and Kentucky Fried Chicken.  He's holding consultations with his three eldest children, and their wives and husband, on family business matters.
  According to Title 3 of the United States Code, the US President "shall earn" a salary of $400,000 each year, along with a $50,000 annual expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account, and $19,000 each year for entertainment costs.  Like most US government employees, the President, and his family, receives benefits in addition to the above monies, each and every year.  So he gets $469,000 in pay, which he pays taxes on; plus $100,000 in free travel expense money that he does not have to pay taxes on.  In short; he receives $569,000 - a bit over a half-million dollars each year, plus benefits.
   When he was a candidate, the (now) 45th President denigrated the golfing habits of the President Barack Obama, and stated that he would never have time to be on the golf course, if he was elected, because he would be too busy "running the country."
   A newspaper article, which has been fact-checked, came out on 6 September 2018 - 4 months ago - showing that the President has spent 153 days at golf properties that he owns, and that, as of that time, we taxpayers had to pay $300,675 for golf cart rentals only, so the Secret Service could cover and protect 45 while on the links.  Most of those golf cart charges came from Mar-a-Lago, which the President owns; so we are paying him to be the President, and then paying him again to use golf carts to protect him while he is playing golf.
   Oh - and, as of 6 September 2018, we United States taxpayers have footed the bill of the President's golf outings to the tune of over $77 million.
   Not only does the man lie out of both sides of his mouth, he is raping the taxpayers of this country.  It's a shame that we, the people, are allowing him to do this.

Photos of Wild Creatures in Winter

Arctic fox

Wild turkey

Bison

Vole

White tail buck

Wolf

Former FBI Agent Reviews Past Two (Plus) Years

***  Sorry for being absent for such a long time.  The website would not "load" for a new post for the past 14 days; and I've been bursting with all sorts of information.....   First, something that has nothing to do with critters - other than human ones...   ***

I love, enjoy, and understand the views of Clint Watts. I met him when I worked for the EPA in Washington, DC. Clint received a bachelor of science degree from the United States Military Academy. Subsequently he garnered a master of arts after graduating from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in 2005. He served in the United States Army as an officer in the infantry. He completed Airborne School and Ranger School. He was the executive officer of the Combating Terrorism Center at United States Military Academy at West Point (CTC).  After the September 11 attacks, he was recruited into the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to help coordinate efforts combating terrorism across multiple agencies. Watts worked as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In this capacity he served on the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Watts has consulted for the FBI Counterterrorism Division (CTD) and FBI National Security Branch (NSB). Clint is a Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) fellow. He joined with FPRI in 2011, and became its Robert A. Fox fellow in the FPRI initiative focusing on Middle East studies. He is a senior fellow at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University. He does consulting work and teaches for police agencies, intelligence sources, and the military. And he is a contributor on MSNBC, offering his expert views on the current state of affairs.

This is his current take on US affairs regarding the current President, via Tweet:

* Regarding this NYT story from this weekend, imagine you are a FBI Agent working Russian counterintelligence in 2016 and you witness the following: New York Times article "FBI Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working On Behalf Of Russia" (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/fbi-trump-russia-inquiry.html)

* - you witnessed Russian hackers targeting a wide swath of Americans including the DNC, DCCC, former Secretary of State & a Presidential candidates staff

* - someone previously targeted by Russian Intelligence joins the Trump campaign and then appears on a stage in Moscow supporting Russia policy and speaking negatively of US policy

* - A Presidential candidate hires a new campaign manager whose not been in the business in the states for years, but has been seen pushing a Russian agenda in Ukraine and has Russian intel contacts

* - an Australian official contacts you and says the Russians have stolen emails of a Presidential candidate & may want to give them to the candidate’s competitor

* - a Russian lawyer & others tied to Russian government visit a Presidential candidate’s son in the candidate’s building in NYC

* - Candidate Trump stands on a stage and calls out Russia and asks about emails from his competitor, says they will be rewarded if they have them and release them

* - website that’s released sensitive & classified documents from US for years, helped deliver a US insider to The Kremlin, begins publishing document & emails during Dem convention, content you know was stolen by Russia. Site administrator once hosted a TV show on Russia State TV

* - A strange, unexpected policy change occurs at RNC convention, the change is a less supportive position toward Ukraine and is advantageous to Russia

* - candidate’s campaign manager goes on CNN and asserts a false terrorist attack in Turkey, one tied to and advanced by Russian propaganda ( See: Manafort Off Base On Terrorist Claim - https://www.factcheck.org/2016/08/manafort-off-base-on-terrorist-claim/ )

* - during this time, you watch a campaign associate tweet with a Russian account that’s pointing people to stolen documents from the opposing campaign. The campaign associate predicts something will happen to the opposing campaign manager- his emails are later released

* - as Election Day approaches, Presidential candidate makes allegation, without evidence, voter Fraud & Election Rigging, Russia propaganda echoes this, social media accounts associated Kremlin do the same, at same time, you watch Russian Hackers hit state election infrastructure

* After election, current President issues sanctions against Russia, but the incoming National Security advisor makes calls to Russian officials from 3rd country, when approached for clarification post inauguration, the advisor lies about contents of phone call w/Russian officials

* During summer-fall leading into the election, you receive raw intelligence from highly reliable source whose proven invaluable on other investigations. source provides intelligence on Russia’s efforts to support a presidential candidate, the info is consistent with other info

* Before inauguration your bosses, your leaders from all intelligence agencies brief president elect on classified info showing Russia influenced the election on behalf of President elect. President elect rejects intelligence from all your superiors and suggests Russia innocent

* From the summer of 2015 all the way through the election and after inauguration, you watch as the candidate, president elect and now president offers overt effusive support for Vladimir Putin who you know has been helping the President get elected.

* Shortly after inauguration, your new commander-in-chief spouts false information about Polish aggression toward Belarus. This is not supported by the Intelligence community you are in, and the only source for this viewpoint is Russian propaganda

* After firing of National Security Advisor that lies to you agencies investigators, the President corners your boss 1-1 asks him to go easy on National Security Advisor who lies about his conversation with Russians

* During this period, the President inexplicably and repeatedly asks your boss if he’s under investigation with regards to Russia, despite your boss and other intel heads going out of their way to brief the President about Kremlin efforts to potentially compromise & manipulate him

* While Congressional committees investigate Russian interference, the President fires your boss for his handling of an email investigation into the President’s opponent, an investigation that helped elevate the President rather than hurt him

* You later find out a draft memo from President to your boss regarding his firing cited the Russia investigation

* The President then goes on national television and in an interview says he fired your boss because of the Russia investigation

* A week after firing your boss, the President invites Russian leaders into the Oval Office, Russian photographers capture the moment, but US media is not allowed to observe. President then brags to Russian leaders about firing your boss

* Sometime during the spring, if you’re not already aware, you read a news story alleging the President’s son-in-law may have sought a way to communicate with Russia via a back channel not monitored by you and your colleagues

* During summer, you watch the President attend NATO summit and shove Montenegro PM, in an Interview claim Montenegro is aggressive, might start a war. This mirrors Russian propaganda & you know Russia backed covert operation destabilize Montenegrin election

* For next year, either you, your colleagues and your organization, FBI, are discredited by President. He mixes true and false information in public disclosures which you are not allowed to respond to. If you do respond, your accused of leaking and could be fired or even jailed

* Documents & information from confidential sources you’ve pledged to protect, are selectively leaked into public through those who are supposed to provide government oversight. These inappropriate disclosures make your job as an investigator nearly impossible & hurts your sources

* At some point during the summer or before, you learn that the President’s son was receiving & responding to direct messages from website that was releasing emails stolen from the President’s opponent by Russia

* 1st two years President’s term, you watch him take a negative, adversarial stance toward NATO and particularly Germany. This strains your relationship with your most valuable intel partners, your Counterterrorism agent colleagues depend on them & they help fight war on terror

* Over next 2 years, President aggressively seeks meetings with Putin who helped elect him. Need for meetings is not clear. one President meets in private with Putin for 2 hours without witnesses but translator. To this day, you, your bosses don’t really know what was discussed

* President emerges from private meeting with Putin and on world stage in Helsinki accepts and validates Russian denials about election interference & rejects years of your teams intel work. This badly damages your reputation and partner trust with your organization

* Separately, your President publicly discusses a Russian proposed partnership on cyber security, this insane concept is mind boggling to you as an investigator as you’ve just spent years tracking these same Russians who just attacked your country

* Even further, your President publicly mentions a possible exchange where Russian investigators might interview and interrogate you and other Americans about their attack on you and America. A crazy, frightening and bizarre threat to you as a civil servant.

* Throughout your investigation into Russian interference, you watch as your President’s attacks on the Special Counsel, Justice Department & FBI are amplified and spread in America by the very Russian troll social media accounts and state sponsored propaganda you are investigating

* Throughout the Special Counsel indictments, hearings and trials, you watch the President and his legal team publicly interject, discredit witnesses and discuss pardons, all subverting the rule of law and justice which you’ve dedicated your life to protect and defend

* You either know or learn a parallel investigation shows Russians representing a bogus Russian gun rights movement penetrated the political party hosting members who’ve tried to discredit you - you recognize this as a TEXTBOOK espionage/influence op you learned at FBI academy

* After two years, the Attorney General over you, who appropriately recused himself from Russia investigation, is fired for seemingly no clear reason after taking public lashings from the President

* Your AG is replaced by an acting AG whose unqualified for position, has limited experience justify such high level appointment, you’ve watched him on TV discrediting your agency and your team’s investigation despite seeing none of evidence or knowing anything Russian influence

* The same month, the President’s personal lawyer pleads guilty in federal court and says he continued negotiations throughout almost the entire Presidential campaign for a Tower in Moscow. This is in opposition to President’s public denials.

* You read public reporting that the best apartment in the Moscow Tower project pursued by the President’s business was offered to Russia’s President Putin, the same Putin your President always sides with over you and your agency, the Putin who helped your President win

* You either knew or learned through a redaction error that the President’s campaign manager was alleged to have lied about providing polling data to a Russian whom he owed money, via a former Russian GRU contact

====== Follow-up comments from Clint Watts ======

* I’ve seen some criticism FBI should not pursue Nat Sec inquiry into sitting President. Could be two other options. 1) Congressional oversight - which has failed miserably 2) or a Special Counsel investigation - which is what we have and should stay on course and unimpeded

* Congressional oversight of President has completely deteriorated over last 2 decades. In aggregate, Congress has failed in their duties, party has overtaken country, personal power has been pursued over the welfare of the people

* Attorney General nominee confirmations start this week, Barr wrote memo criticizing Rosenstein appointment Special Counsel, despite having seen NONE of the evidence might justify DAG Rosenstein decision. Senate needs to ensure Mueller investigation protected if they confirm Barr

* Wrote thread through day from memory without web searches, I’m sure I missed a lot, & this is all on the public, can’t imagine what it must feel like to serve FBI during this investigation,we clearly don’t know everything Mueller team knows, I imagine there is much more to learn

* Special Counsel investigation must continue, this is a crisis, this is a national emergency

* I think DAG Rosenstein will be proven to have made one of the toughest and best decisions in recent US history when he appointed a special Counsel and chose former FBI Director Robert Mueller.