Sessions is absolutely right that he behaved honorably while attorney general and honorably since, especially by refusing to take shots at Trump no matter how many unfair shots Trump took at him. He also is right to say that on Trump’s biggest agenda items, immigration and trade, “I was for this agenda before President Trump announced. … No senator in the Senate would be more effective at pushing President Trump’s agenda than I would be.”

Sessions is nothing if not sincere about his public-policy stances through the years. It’s one of his best qualities. It’s a shame that his excusemaking about Trump’s bad ethics should besmirch his otherwise exemplary record of probity.