The president may well survive this, but he has surrounded himself with feckless chancers who bring him only pain

Another day and another big break in the Russia investigation. Today, in a federal court in Washington DC, Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI. To be clear, this is a big deal – and not just because of the breathless coverage on the American TV networks.

Mr Flynn was the chief foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump. He was appointed national security adviser – one of the key White House jobs. But he covered up his links to foreign governments, failed to disclose payments and misled administration officials over meetings with Russian diplomats.

That he has pleaded guilty now suggests he has no stomach for a fight and is preparing to offer evidence against Mr Trump’s circle. But evidence of what exactly?

The allegation against the Trump campaign is that it colluded with the Kremlin to sway the outcome of last year’s election. We know Russians deployed an army of bots in his support, hacked the Democratic campaign and – at different times – offered dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Against that backdrop, the Trump campaign looks bad: Whether it is Mr Flynn’s ties to foreign governments, Paul Manafort’s past work for the Russian-backed leadership in Ukraine; Jeff Sessions’ forgotten meetings with Moscow’s man in Washington… The list goes on.