:: will be conducted faithfully and honestly [like MUELLER] ::
This gives me more confidence of the brackets indicating not just “kill” (when accompanied by a ‘187’) but also a ^boxed-in^ or ^constrained^ situation.
In this case, MUELLER has _no choice_ but to investigate faithfully and honestly, given the overall circumstances.
Yeah, ‘killbox’ is a handy term, but I think of being in the “killbox” as “it being ones turn in the barrel” or “on the hot seat” or “in the hot seat” as well as being constrained or locked in.