“There will be much for special counsel Robert S. Mueller
III to unpack after this last week’s momentous testimony of James B. Comey: Did
President Trump’s actions amount to obstruction of justice? Did Attorney
General Jeff Sessions violate his recusal from the Russia probe? Should Comey
have acted sooner?
“But such legal considerations, though important, miss the
real significance of Comey’s testimony heard ’round the world. In the three
hours I sat transfixed in Room 216 of the Hart Building, 15 feet behind the
fired FBI director, the line that chilled me more than any other was Comey’s
account of why he wrote extensive, real-time notes of his conversations with
Trump. ‘The nature of the person,’ Comey
explained in part. ‘I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the
nature of our meeting, and so I thought it really important to document.’
“The nature of the person. This was the essence of Comey’s
testimony: that the president of the United States is at his core a dishonest
and untrustworthy man. It was judgment on character, not a legal opinion, and
even Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee made no real attempt to
dispel it.
“By itself, it’s neither a high crime nor a misdemeanor for
a president to be dishonorable. But it’s a stain on the country, and it defines
this moment. This is why Trump can’t get legislation through Congress and can’t
get allies to cooperate, and why so many worry that he will disregard
constitutional restraints. The president is not to be trusted.
“The Founders did not anticipate this, a defect not just of
private misconduct (which we’ve seen before) but of public character. ‘The
process of election affords a moral certainty,’ Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 68, ‘that
the office of president will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an
eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. Talents for low
intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man
to the first honors in a single state; but it will require other talents, and a
different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the
whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to
make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of president of
the United States. It will not be too strong to say, that there will be a
constant probability of seeing the station filled by characters pre-eminent for
ability and virtue.’
“But the moral certainty of the Enlightenment broke down
with the election of something more medieval. When Sen. Angus King, the Maine
independent, asked Comey whether he took as a directive Trump’s expressed ‘hope’
that Comey drop the FBI’s probe of ousted national security adviser Michael
Flynn, Comey reached back to the words of 12th-century
autocrat Henry II that led to the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket. ‘Yes,’
Comey said, ‘it rings in my ear as kind of ‘Will no one rid me of this
meddlesome priest?’
“The former FBI chief
and top official in the George W. Bush Justice Department was unsparing in his
challenge to Trump’s character, saying that Trump’s administration ‘chose to
defame me’ and the FBI with ‘lies, plain and simple.’ Comey noted that he never
felt the need to document his conversations with Presidents George W. Bush or
Barack Obama, telling Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), again, that he got ‘a gut
feeling’ about Trump ‘and the nature of the person that I was interacting with
and my read of that person.’
“Republicans on and off the panel largely accept Comey’s
assessment of Trump’s character. House Speaker Paul
D. Ryan (R-Wis.) suggested that ‘the president’s new at this’ and ‘probably
wasn’t steeped in the long-running protocols.’ But, he added, ‘I’m not saying
it’s an acceptable excuse.’
“Republicans on the committee defended Trump on some
technical points but not on matters of integrity. Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho)
called Comey’s testimony ‘as good as it gets’ for legal writing and accepted
that ‘we know exactly what happened’ between him and Trump. Collins said Trump ‘never
should have cleared the room, and he never should have asked you, as you
reported, to let it go — to let the investigation go.’
“Trump is growing lonely in his protestations of his own
probity. Friday morning he inexplicably claimed ‘total and
complete vindication.’ Trump’s spokeswoman Sarah
Huckabee Sanders vouched that ‘the president is not a liar. I think it’s
frankly insulting that that question would be asked.’
“No, what’s insulting — to America — is that the question
didn’t need to be asked. Comey, until last month the nation’s top lawman,
confirmed what we already knew.”
The Most Chilling Line of Comey's Testimony by Dana Milbank, Washington Post, June 9, 2017
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