Under oath, Comey calls Trump a “liar” and admits triggering a special counsel
Jim Comey is a good man; but did his visceral suspicion of the President’s honesty guide his professional judgment more than the facts?
Whatever, all the sound and fury was more sideshow than main event.
Left unaddressed?
What, if any, interaction was there with the Russians by Donald Trump or his campaign?
Oh, “Lordy”
Yes, fired FBI Director Jim Comey is a good man, but he would be the first to tell you, not a perfect one. Those watching his farewell testimony either found his concession of imperfection to give him credibility or as disingenuous, false modesty... which in the end ironically gives Donald Trump a possible defense.
The President is a man that brings forward strong reaction for or against him. Trump’s core support see him as embattled outsider: Mr. Comey saw Trump as a “liar” from their first meeting.
Fair to the President?
Unclear, it is possible that the President, as suggested by Senator Rubio, was just remarkably uninformed about limits on his own authority and was crossing lines and making inquiries that he thought were innocent but others would readily see as interference or obstruction.
So too, the Comey testimony revealed how the president likely thought that he was being ill served by director Comey; Comey privately told Trump several times that he was not the subject of the Russian investigation. Say what?! Whether Trump will be exonerated depends on an investigation about which next to nothing has been disclosed. Nevertheless, Comey promised but refused to take any action to meet the president’s request that Comey make it publicly known that — in Comey’s view —Trump was not a target — however bizarre that seems given all the smoke of Russian-Trump campaign interaction in media supposition.
Bias
Mr. Comey was much more scrupulous and prompt in defense of his own public standing by leaking to a Columbia University friend materials that would portray the President as directing Comey to drop the Flynn prosecution.
The president did unwisely inquire about Mike Flynn, and whether the inquiry was more than that is certainly arguable, but again, Comey did next to nothing to relieve the president’s anxiety beyond saying privately that Trump was not a target.
But again why?
Why was the president not a target of investigation given, as Comey acknowledged, Trump’s curious favoritism of Russia in multiple settings going all the way back to the campaign – and the presidents obvious and heavy reliance upon the stolen or “hacked”materials.
As outlined in depth in a prior Huffington column, the key unanswered question is still what did Donald Trump know about the origin of the hacked materials that were published by WikiLeaks? Did trump know that they originated with Russia? Was Russia supplying a quid pro quo to Trump who in some fashion promised to repay by lifting economic sanctions against Russia or otherwise favoring them?
Most importantly, Comey did say that the Russians were coming after America and that all Americans regardless of party must insist upon the Trump-Russian collusion, if it is a reality as ascertained by special counsel Mueller, to be fully aired. If Mr. Trump was aware of the Russian origin of the materials he was using to defeat Hillary Clinton, Trump’s behavior borders on treason.
Yes, treason.
No president can remain in office who has become a collaborator with foreign agent’s attacking our democracy.
Where was Comey unclear?
Comey should have told Trump ― “Sir if you have questions about why you haven’t been announced as a non-target, you should have that conversation with the White House Counsel and the Department of Justice.”
Double-standard?
One could see why the President was frustrated; Comey at critical moments was unclear about the impropriety of either asking him to drop the Flynn investigation or Comey making statements during an ongoing investigation —and here Hillary Clinton becomes a point of comparison as senator McCain tried to make; specifically, Comey thought it appropriate to close publicly Hillary’s investigation, but not to do the same for the president.
Comey’s response was that the Clinton investigation was in fact complete and deserved to be publicly closed – notwithstanding department rules against prosecutors saying such things. Despite Comey’s unclarity, the Russian-Trump collusion investigation is not at end, and sadly from the standpoint of national embarrassment, it is quite possible to think of the president as being involved.
Good — helpfully competent — people are hard to find
President Trump continues to lose whether it is the travel ban or his relationship with the department of justice and the FBI by a lack of good counsel and his fundamental lack of experience in government.
At bottom, we have Comey the nice guy who is sometimes unclear or too quick to reach conclusions and Donald Trump who seems to have cultivated a reputation of decidedly not being a nice guy, but who is without question a sharp dealer.
Going forward, Mueller’s obligation is to establish whether there was or was not a Trump Russia collusion and especially whether or not the president is trading public decisions for his personal interests be they economic or otherwise.
Today, despite all of what we’ve heard about side issues of obstruction and possible disregard of executive limitations on the president, Diane Feinstein had the relevant question: why not just tell the president that his inquiries were improper or wrongly directed to him and the president especially needs to be careful not to be seen as interfering with an investigation .
Help from the swamp
The president deserves an opportunity to enact his legislative program that he promised during the campaign. Trump is shooting himself in the foot by not getting objective and competent assistance in the departments and in the White House. It is perhaps his natural suspicion that no one likes him or that they view him as an outsider, but he has to learn that there are some people in the swamp who have his own best interest or at least the best interest of the presidency in mind and he should not turn away from their advice without hearing it out and considering it fully.
The referenced Huffington Post Was written prior to Comey testimony, but it is a reminder – an important reminder – of the Russian question that is at the heart of the matter that needs to be answered.
Jim Comey is at his best when he is the father or scoutmaster instructing us on Americanism. His reference to the shining city on the hill was Reaganesque but delivered sincerely beyond party limits.
Comey’s admonition that Russia is coming after America is one that needs to be fully addressed and answered.
At one time it may have been feasible to think of Russia as an ally, but Russia’s interference with our election and Trump’s undue favoritism toward Russia makes that much more difficult if not impossible.
The questions at the end of the Huffington post are as relevant as ever. And given the treasonous nature of “the matter” necessitates the Vice-Presidemt raising with the President the option of accepting a leave of absence until — at long last — the Trump name can be cleared — or not.