Trump vs. Justice

When the President unleashes his inner Roy Cohn, calling the execution of a judicially approved search warrant on his lawyer’s office, home and hotel room “an attack on what we all stand for,” that is, well, an attack on what we all stand for. Namely, the rule of law, not men, and the pursuit of wrongdoing without fear or favor.

Given the importance of attorney-client privilege, agents properly tread gingerly when they believe they have probable cause to suspect evidence of illegal conduct in a lawyer’s possession. But the privilege has never been absolute. A 1933 Supreme Court ruling articulated an exception: “A client who consults an attorney for advice that will serve him in the commission of a fraud will have no help from the law.”

That’s of no moment to Trump, who — ignoring the involvement here of a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, and an FBI led by a Trump appointee, and a Trump-appointed deputy attorney general — now howls “witch hunt!” ever louder.

With Michael Cohen now in the investigative crosshairs, the President is clearly afraid of what the Russia probe might yield, and petrified that a combing through contacts between foreign operators and his campaign is bleeding into what he perceives as his personal and professional life.

But if there’s good reason for agents to believe a crime was committed, it’s not a personal or professional matter. That’s public business.

Apparently, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators encountered credible evidence of potentially illegal conduct in Cohen’s control — and convinced a judge a warrant was in order. That’s what they were duty-bound to do. The President never sees duty, only loyalty. Asked, “Why don’t you just fire Mueller?” Trump Monday toyed with the possibility, saying, “We’ll see what happens . . . And many people have said, ‘You should fire him.’ ”

He dare not try.