James Comey's firing makes sense now. This is not good news for the president. The reason is clear, but very bad.
We do not have to take Comey's word about that reason, either. The president himself corroborated it in writing on May 9 -- in his letter firing Comey.
President Donald Trump fired Comey as director of the FBI. The pretense was Comey's mishandling of the high-profile investigation of Hillary Clinton. The president dropped that pretense two days later, saying he had made his decision to fire Comey before the memos citing that reason were written.
Thursday, Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his conversations with Trump. The committee is investigating Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia.
By Comey's account, the president repeatedly contacted him and talked in private about the investigation. Comey told the president on three occasions that Trump was not being personally investigated. The president made it clear on two of those occasions that he wanted that fact made public. Comey kicked the request upstairs to an acting deputy attorney general. He did not disclose to the president why he did not act on the request himself:
"I did not tell the President that the FBI and the Department of Justice had been reluctant to make public statements that we did not have an open case on President Trump for a number of reasons, most importantly because it would create a duty to correct, should that change."
No, President Trump was not under investigation at any of the times Comey talked to him -- but the investigation was not over. No one is cleared by an investigation that is not finished yet. This remains true no matter how badly the president wishes otherwise. Comey severely erred by volunteering to the president that he was not under investigation at those times. All the rest of these events stem from the president leaping to the conclusion he was free and clear. Comey did little if anything to correct that leap.
Unforgettably, Comey told the public in
July that the investigation was over on Clinton's private email server. He thought it was, but had to come back later that year after new evidence was found. He had to do that precisely because he had a "duty to correct." Things changed. It should surprise no one Comey did not want to put himself in that kind of bind again. This was no made-up excuse.
Trump was foolish to demand that Comey talk to him in private about the Russia investigation at all, much less ask Comey for favors. Even if Trump is innocent in the Russia scandal, the president could have been a witness to what went on in his campaign.
In light of what we know now, a self-serving paragraph Trump included in his dismissal letter to Comey makes a great deal more sense:
"While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau."
Trump could not get Comey to "get out" the word the president was not under investigation while Comey remained in office. So Trump fired him -- and used the dismissal letter to put exactly the message he wanted on front pages everywhere. No other specific topic regarding Comey's job performance is addressed in the president's letter.
Whether the president obstructed justice is a question for the special counsel who took over the investigation.
The rest of Comey's seven-page account and his subsequent questioning Thursday is "his word against mine" between him and the president. Fair enough, but Comey's rival in this credibility clash is the same man who says Mexico will pay for the wall, the "Russia thing" is fake news and, briefly, that Comey was fired for treating Clinton badly.
Also, take a moment. Imagine the Republican reaction if such a damning letter from a former FBI director who had been fired under such circumstances came out about then-President Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, or then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Those who throw stones should not elect glass presidents.
On a side note, I had mentioned on Twitter that this week's topic might be about the president's foolish publicity stunt on climate change. That will have to wait. The way things are going, the wait might be long.
Commentary on 06/10/2017