In June, US president Donald Trump claimed “ an absolute right” to pardon himself. What was then a matter of scholarly conjecture is now a question of the sharpest real-world relevance.
As of Tuesday, the dies horribilis of his presidency, Mr Trump finds the criminal law lapping at the edges of his office. In separate legal proceedings along the eastern seaboard, Michael Cohen, his old “fix-it guy”, pleaded guilty to numerous charges, while Paul Manafort, his one-time campaign chief, was convicted of others.
From the blur of financial sleaze — bank fraud, tax evasion — what stands out is Mr Cohen’s confession, under oath, to the violation of campaign finance law to pay off two women at the behest of Mr Trump. To repeat, the president’s former lawyer appears to be implicating him in a federal crime.