We're Going to Find Out If Trump Is Above the Law

[BloombergView]( [Early Returns]( Jonathan Bernstein]( The various investigations into President Donald Trump and his associates are [accelerating again](, as are the fears that Trump will try to put an end to the investigation. It's true a lot of liberals have predicted he would fire special counsel Robert Mueller a dozen or so times, and it still hasn't happened. Perhaps it won't. On the other hand, we have reports that [Trump has come close]( to doing it -- and the president has made grossly inappropriate statements about the investigation any number of times, stating in unambiguous terms that he has no respect for the independence of the FBI or Justice Department investigations. On Monday, he equated serving a warrant on his lawyer with "an attack on our country." The question isn't really about whether Trump will fire Mueller, or fire Rod Rosenstein or Jeff Sessions or (in the latest version) the federal prosecutors in New York. It's much more simple: Will the president of the United States attempt to shut down an investigation into his own actions? That was the question at the heart of the Saturday Night Massacre in 1973. Richard Nixon was not forced to reinstate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. He was, however, forced to hire a new special prosecutor and allow the investigation go on much the same as it had before the president attempted to rid himself of it. Cox was only hired in the first place after it was revealed that Nixon (personally, and through his staff) had interfered with what was supposed to be an independent Justice Department investigation into Watergate. Last year, Mueller was hired only after Trump fired the FBI director and said that it was an attempt to derail the Trump-Russia investigation. We have no idea how Republicans in Congress would react if Trump attempts a new massacre. But we should be very clear about what exactly Republicans in Congress would be protecting if Trump acted and they allowed Trump to get his way. He wouldn't just be firing one prosecutor; he would presumably be ending the investigation as something independent from his immediate control -- perhaps dropping the charges Mueller has filed, and even suppressing the evidence Mueller's office and others have gathered. The truth is that merely firing Mueller and allowing the attorney general to hire a real replacement, while troubling, would almost certainly do Trump very little good. Unless, that is, the fix was in to hire someone who had no intention of moving things forward based on whatever evidence has been uncovered.  The question isn't whether this or that person is the right one for the job. If Trump acts, the question will be -- as it was in 1973 -- whether the president is above the law. That is precisely why the massacre blew up in Nixon's face. Republicans didn't care about Cox or the attorney general, Elliot Richardson, who was purged because he refused to fire Cox. When push came to shove, however, it turned out that many of them and many of their supporters did care about the rule of law. I'm not sure whether Republicans in Congress realize yet that that could be what's at stake. 1. Elizabeth Saunders at the Monkey Cage on [John Bolton]( and the limits of U.S. foreign-policy choices. 2. Also at the Monkey Cage: Andrew Rudalevige on why some version of a [line-item veto]( could still happen. It's true it could shift some of the blame to the president; it's also true that line-item vetoes aren't about cutting government spending. What it would do is shift more influence from Congress to the president. 3. Rick Valelly at Washington Monthly on [how political scientists have reacted to Trump](. 4. Dan Drezner on [national security bureaucratic resistance to Trump](. What really distinguishes this from Barack Obama is that Obama was a lot harder to bamboozle. Most presidents are. 5. Here at Bloomberg View, Robert Burgess argues that [investors aren't impressed with Trump](. 6. And Clare Malone at FiveThirtyEight on the [nightmare foreign-election-tampering]( scenario. Get Early Returns every morning in your inbox. Click [here]( to subscribe. Bloomberg L.P. ● 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Web]( ● [Facebook]( ● [Twitter]( [Feedback]( ● [Unsubscribe](