Trump's Most Blatant Assault on the Rule of Law Yet

[DonViejo]

There have been questionable moves before. But the president’s reported lashing-out at his acting attorney general is truly problematic.

Matt Miller, Mimi Rocah

12.28.18 4:41 AM ET

In the nearly two years since he took office, President Trump has repeatedly tried to obliterate the wall that has long separated the White House from the Justice Department—a wall that is critical to insulating law enforcement from politics and preserving the rule of law.

From pushing then-FBI Director James Comey to drop an investigation into his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, to railing against, and eventually firing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, Mr. Trump has shown that he expects the men and women of the Justice Department to serve as his personal policemen and prosecutors.

On Friday, CNN revealed his most astonishing act yet, one that in our view clearly violated the law. According to CNN’s reporting, the president recently “lashed out” at acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker over court documents referencing the president in the guilty plea by his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen. Worse, a week later Mr. Trump pushed Whitaker on “why more wasn’t being done to control” the Southern District of New York prosecutors who brought the case against Cohen. The president of the United States, in that moment, was essentially pressuring an acting official whose job hangs on his personal whims to shut down an investigation into himself.

On Christmas Eve, Mr. Trump tweeted that he never lashed out at Whitaker and, predictably, attacked the story as “Fake News.” But he notably didn’t deny other details of CNN’s reporting.

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