At a time of diminishing faith in American institutions, does this criticism come at a cost? Perhaps. “Thanks to this rhetoric,” Christopher Hunter, a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor, told the Times, “there is a subset of the public that won’t believe what comes out of the Mueller investigation.”

But whose fault is that? After being named to head the investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia, Special Counsel Robert Mueller appointed a team of politically connected prosecutors to assist in the probe. One of them praised a Justice Department official who opposed Trump on immigration. Another defended the Clinton Foundation in court. Half a dozen contributed money to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. These are not neutral people, these are political activists. Mueller’s defenders say they can set aside their political partisanship and be fair to Trump, but what’s the evidence for that assertion? And what about the need to bolster public confidence by avoiding even the appearance of a conflict?

Why shouldn’t Republicans mention the partisan sentiments and personal contempt for Trump contained in the texts between star-crossed FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok?