When it comes to the James Comey testimony, everybody has been weighing in. It’s what happens when unconscionably improper presidential behavior meets the possibility of justice obstruction. For now, let’s let the attorneys and Special Counsel Robert Mueller sort it out. It’s going to take a while.
But here are four quick takeaways from the Senate Intelligence Committee that questioned the former FBI director:
* Comey’s a “leaker.” True and truly unflattering, but moot when that which was leaked was not classified, and the “leaker” was no longer a government official.
* Comey has credibility. But it’s more than his overall reputation as a DOJ and FBI professional. Elements of both parties hate him.
* Optics and subplots. Always intriguing. You can tell who among the inquiring senators is a “D,” who’s an “R” and even who’s an “I” (Angus King of Maine). Exhibit A: Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, who jumped all over Comey quoting Donald Trump saying: “I hope you can let this (Michael Flynn investigation) go.” Risch went into gotcha parsing overdrive about Trump’s mafia don use of “hope.” As in, “He did not direct you to let it go?” Aha. Not a direct order, right? Merely aspirational, off-the-cuff stuff, right?
Fast forward to Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., a former attorney general of that state. She responded to Risch’s literal line of questioning. She presented a hypothetical. What if an armed robber were to put a gun at the head of someone and say: “I hope you will give me your wallet”? Zing. No, “hope” wasn’t the operative word.
You can’t make this up. But they could.
* And then, last but, alas, least, there was Sen. John McCain. First he transposed the names of Comey and Trump. Twice. Then he conflated two separate FBI investigations–Hillary Clinton’s emails with Russian meddling in the presidential campaign. Worst yet, he labeled the different approaches as a “double standard.”
It was as befuddling as it was embarrassing. We all deserved better.