President Trump’s norm-defying “demand” that the Justice Department “look into” whether it infiltrated or surveilled the Trump campaign “for Political Purposes” at the behest of the Obama administration threatens less damage to Justice Department independence than to larger executive branch prerogatives that any president other than Trump would want to protect.

Trump’s tweet-order came just after noon on Sunday, May 20, in angry response to stories about an FBI informant who approached Trump campaign officials in 2016 and to the Justice Department’s refusal to accede to congressional demands for information about the informant.