“The president is the chief law enforcement officer. Of course he is. Just like he’s the commander in chief of the armed forces. Just like he’s the chief diplomat. But the difference here is past presidents have chosen to delegate those powers to their attorney general, to their secretary of defense, to their secretary of state. Why? Because the president occupies a unique role. He is both the head of our government and the head of his political party. That makes him a uniquely partisan political figure. And we historically have wanted our institutions of government to operate in ways that are indifferent from partisanship. That’s really the difference here. We want people to have faith in how those institutions are run in non-partisan ways. Particularly with regard to the Justice Department…”
