Another point perhaps lost in the welter of news coming out today is this. The New York State Attorney General’s suit against the Trump Foundation, President Trump, and his children contains substantial evidence that Trump and his family violated numerous federal laws. These are laws which are often dealt with as civil offenses, fines, etc. But here they seem sufficiently egregious and systematic that I think there would be solid arguments for criminal prosecution. (I’d be curious what people with relevant legal experience make of that question.)

It is important to note clearly that a substantial number of the instances of alleged wrongdoing are directly tied to the conduct of the 2016 presidential campaign. This isn’t some open-ended search through Trump’s sordid business history.

There’s simply no way that Jeff Sessions, as a critical part of the campaign leadership, can reasonably oversee an investigation into these alleged crimes. I would leave to others whether the normal procedure would have him recusing himself in favor of Rod Rosenstein or whether it’s necessary to appoint a separate special counsel to investigate the family’s alleged criminal wrongdoing.