The Washington Post blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions for failing to insulate the FBI from political pressure.
"The nation just got another reminder that the political independence of the nation's law enforcement system is in jeopardy," the newspaper said in an editorial.
"It is being protected by a thin line of principled public servants who refuse to bend to the Trump administration and congressional Republicans' campaign to attack and cajole the FBI into serving political, rather than public, interests."
The Post pointed to a report by Axios that said Sessions pressured FBI Director Christopher Wray to fire Andrew McCabe, a senior FBI official.
The newspaper said Trump dislikes McCabe and "has repeatedly excoriated" him on Twitter.
"Mr. McCabe's sins mostly amount to association with former FBI Director James B. Comey, who was himself fired by Mr. Trump for refusing to swear fealty to the president and for declining to treat Mr. Trump's associates with undeserved leniency," the Post said.
The newspaper maintained Sessions' "overriding interest should have been to protect the integrity of the FBI and do everything possible to guard against it becoming the president's personal police force, as Mr. Trump appears to want.
"When the president says he wishes that the attorney general would protect him and when he personally attacks the credibility of seasoned law enforcement agents such as Mr. McCabe, all while the president's associates are under federal investigation, the only principled response is to insulate the FBI from political pressure by refusing to act on the president's pique. Mr. Sessions failed this test. "
The newspaper noted Wray declined to fire McCabe.
"It is heartening that there are still senior public officials who refuse to compromise key civic principles to accommodate the wayward personality in the Oval Office," the Post said. "It is discouraging that the attorney general is not one of them."