EVEN from a man as indifferent to political norms as President Donald Trump, the tweet on the afternoon of May 20th was alarming. At the end of a string of messages complaining about a “witch hunt” against him, Mr Trump demanded: “that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled” his campaign at the behest of the previous administration.
It was no mere taunt. Mr Trump was referring to an investigation that eventually turned into a wide-ranging inquiry by Robert Mueller into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign. In effect, the president was using the power of his office to demand that those investigating him and his associates be investigated. He did not so much broach as blow up a long-standing norm that presidents do not direct or involve themselves in specific criminal investigations.
Although an American intelligence source met three of Mr Trump’s advisers, there is no...Continue reading
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