New York Times: “The war between the president and the nation’s law enforcement apparatus is unlike anything America has seen in modern times. With a special counsel investigating whether his campaign collaborated with Russia in 2016 and whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice in 2017, the president has engaged in a scorched-earth assault on the pillars of the criminal justice system in a way that no other occupant of the White House has done.”

“In his telling, that bureaucracy, now run by his own appointees, is a nest of political saboteurs out to undermine him — an accusation that raised fears that he was tearing at the credibility of some of the most important institutions in American life to save himself.”

Washington Post: Once the party of law and order, Republicans are now defiant.

Washington Post: “Trump has told advisers in recent days that he was hopeful the memo’s release would pave the way for further shake-ups at Justice, including firing Rosenstein.”

Even before he’d read the memo, President Trump seized on what it could mean, the AP reports.

“Trump told confidants in recent days that he believed the memo would validate his concerns that the ‘deep state’ — an alleged shadowy network of powerful entrenched federal and military interests — had conspired to undermine the legitimacy of his presidency, according to one outside adviser.”

“Trump’s decision to authorize the memo’s public disclosure was extraordinary, yet part of a recent pattern. Like few of his predecessors, Trump has delivered repeated broadsides against intelligence and law enforcement agencies, working in tandem with some conservatives to lay the groundwork to either dismiss or discredit special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia investigation.”