Former President Donald J. Trump’s apparent plan to soon announce his candidacy is challenging Attorney General Merrick B. Garland’s desire to show that the Justice Dept. can operate above partisanship.
The agent denounced the exposure by the Trump Justice Department of Igor Danchenko, who was an F.B.I. informant but is now on trial on charges of lying to investigators.
Matters deemed tangential to the charges of making false statements, including a notorious and uncorroborated rumor of a sex tape, will be excluded from the case.
In both cases, former President Donald J. Trump is claiming a novel power to keep White House information from his time in office secret from the Justice Department.