Last month, the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said, “I understand I have to earn his confidence every day.” He was talking about President Trump, of course.

I thought of this when thinking about the testimony of the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, upcoming today. Will he be speaking to an audience of one, a constituency of one? Namely, Donald J. Trump? Sometimes, when the likes of Sean Spicer talk on television, they seem to be speaking to just one audience member: the one who counts for them, Trump.

The attorney general’s testimony will be public, rather than behind closed doors. I’m all for transparency — but I kind of regret this. I think senators would get much more candor behind closed doors. Will Sessions be trying to earn Trump’s confidence today? Is that “Job One,” as the old Ford Motor commercial had it?

In the ’90s, I had an interesting encounter with Janet Reno, President Clinton’s attorney general. At the time, Clinton was furious at her, and rumors were swirling that he would fire her. The question was, To whom does the attorney general owe her loyalty? To the president, personally, or to the law and the people?

The attorney general works for the president, right? Is accountable to him. Serves at his pleasure. At the same time, the attorney general works for a lot of other Americans, right? It’s tricky.

I was not a fan of Janet Reno — or of Clinton and his administration in general, to put it mildly — but I was moved by my encounter with her. I did not envy her. She was going through deep waters, it seemed.

A couple of months ago, I was on television, and I expressed sympathy for Spicer: The president was putting him through all sorts of contortions, and making him say all sorts of things (about the size of the crowd at the inauguration, for example). Someone else pointed out, “He doesn’t have to do it, you know.”

True. But the urge to be near power — especially presidential power! — is very, very strong. And very, very human.

Yesterday, Stuart Stevens, the veteran Republican politico, sent out a tweet — not the kind of tweet you see every day: “Asked my dad why he left FBI & joined Navy when ordered to help round up Asian Americans for internment. ‘You can always say no.’ Still true.”