By David Frulla ( May 23, 2017, 12:18 PM EDT) -- When Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate "the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election," he invoked a well-trod path, both in the United States and around the world. Indeed, special counsel have long-standing historical antecedents in the United States. A special counsel was, for instance, appointed in the 1870s to investigate campaign fundraising relating to President Ulysses S. Grant's re-election, and again during the 1920s "Teapot Dome" investigation. Worldwide, special counsel have recently been appointed in, among other countries, South Korea, to investigate allegations of corruption by senior administration officials....