President Trump “is in deep trouble,” said Jennifer Rubin in
WashingtonPost.com. That was the undeniable takeaway
from last week’s testimony by former FBI Director James
Comey before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which
clearly “marked a turning point” in the running melodrama
of Trump’s troubled presidency. Comey testified that the
president summoned him to an awkward, one-on-one dinner
at the White House, where he asked if he wanted
to keep his job, and then ominously said, “I
expect loyalty.” At a later group meeting
in the Oval Office, Comey testified, Trump ordered everyone else out of the room and
pressured him to drop the FBI investigation
of fired national security adviser Michael
Flynn. “I hope you can see your way clear
to letting this go,” Trump allegedly said.
These statements—along with Trump’s firing of Comey when he
refused to bend to his will—look very much like obstruction of
justice, an impeachable offense. Why was Trump so determined to
get Comey to back off the investigation? asked Noah Rothman in
NYDailyNews.com. You can only conclude he was very afraid “of
what a deep dive into his campaign associates’ interactions with
Russia might reveal.”
“It is never a good day when a former FBI director calls you a
liar,” said Ed Rogers in WashingtonPost.com, but Comey’s testimony
ended up being a “net plus for Trump.” For one thing,
Comey corroborated the president’s claim—previously ridiculed by
the media—that Comey assured Trump three times that he wasn’t
personally under investigation. It may have been “clumsy, naïve,
and smarmy” for the president to express “hope” that Comey
would let the Flynn investigation go, but the fact that Comey
ignored him proves it wasn’t an order or a crime. Trump-hating
Democrats are desperate to get the president impeached,
but if Trump can just settle down and let Mueller do his
work, “the Russia investigation and all its subsidiaries
will conclude without evidence of a crime.”
Trump’s defenders are in denial, said Ali Soufan in
TheAtlantic.com. As a former FBI agent, I can read
“between the lines” of Comey’s testimony, and he
said several things that should keep Trump and his
lawyers up nights. He made it clear several
of Trump’s campaign aides are under investigation
for their mysterious contacts with
Russia—“and Trump was the head of the
campaign.” When the Feds build a case
against an organization, they start at the
bottom and work upward, “turning” the
lower ranks into informants as they go. And look who’s already
under investigation: Flynn, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, former
campaign adviser Carter Page, and former campaign chairman
Paul Manafort. “Bear in mind, too, that obstruction of justice is
just as much a crime as collusion with a foreign power.” When
asked if the president had obstructed justice, Comey said he was
“sure” the special counsel—his friend and FBI mentor Mueller—
would make that part of his investigation.
In FBI culture, said Jeff Stein in Newsweek, Russia is viewed as
an enemy, and any American who colludes with the Russians as a
traitor. “To us,” Comey said, “that is a very big deal.” Translation:
Mueller and his team of top-notch federal prosecutors “will tear
down the White House” searching for any evidence of collusion.
If anyone connected to Trump had improper contact or financial
transactions with Vladimir Putin’s henchman and spies, Mueller
will find out. “Trump should have little doubt about that now.”