The Attorney General of the United States takes the same oath of office that I took over three decades ago when I became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. It is an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The role of the Attorney General, which flows from that oath, is to uphold the rule of law, to represent the best interests of the United States, and to pursue justice. He or she is the chief attorney for our country, not the attorney for the office of the presidency or for any particular president. The current occupant of the White House, however, has a different view of the job.

When, against President Trump’s wishes, then Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump famously complained, “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” He was referring, of course to his mentor, the famed New York attorney and socialite known primarily for being a fixer and a booster of Senator Joseph McCarthy who was ultimately disbarred for misconduct shortly before his death in 1986.