Jeff Sessions is in peril; so is America

PERHAPS the only reason to doubt Donald Trump is contemplating sacking his attorney-general, Jeff Sessions, in order to protect himself and his associates from the counter-espionage investigation being run by Robert Mueller, is that the president has been so astonishingly upfront about it. On July 25th he tweeted that the attorney-general, one of his earliest and most influential supporters, was “VERY weak”. Asked whether he intended to sack him, he replied: “Time will tell.” Yet Mr Trump’s history of rule-breaking suggested he was indeed weighing a measure that would pitch his scandal-plagued presidency into its biggest crisis yet.

Mr Trump said he was angry with Mr Sessions because he had recused himself from an FBI investigation into Russia’s efforts to fix the election in Mr Trump’s favour, with possible assistance from members of the Trump campaign team. Mr Sessions announced that decision in March, after it was revealed that he had withheld details of meetings with a Russian diplomat, Sergey Kislyak, during his Senate confirmation hearings.