It turns out that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein authorized—in a secret memo, yet—Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Paul Manafort, Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s sometime campaign manager, regarding Manafort’s work for the Ukrainian government.

To the extent what Manafort did is a crime—Mueller has indicted him on charges of

conspiring against the US, conspiring to commit money laundering, acting as an unregistered foreign agent, and making false statements. A subsequent indictment…alleges he committed tax and bank fraud.

and Manafort has both denied the accusations and formally pled not guilty—his actions would not be out of the ordinary, and they don’t warrant a special counsel’s investigation.

If DoJ had legitimate interest in Manafort’s actions, DoJ would investigate with the FBI and/or other, established and regular, police forces.  The fact that these accusations are further alleged to have occurred in Ukraine is not relevant to such run-of-the-mill crimes.