“President Trump appears to be guilty of obstruction of justice. That’s the only rational conclusion to be reached if James Comey’s opening statement for his planned testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Thursday, is to be believed. The lurch of the Trump Presidency from one crisis to the next scandal produces a kind of bombshell-induced numbness, but that should not prevent us from appreciating the magnitude of Comey’s statement.
“The statement, alongside other established facts, doesn’t just lay out evidence; it tells a story. In this tale, the President knows how much power he possesses and dangles it before those who serve him. The F.B.I. director was in the middle of a ten-year term, which was designed to give him some insulation from political pressure, but there was a catch: Trump could still fire him. And Trump clearly knew it, as he repeatedly demanded Comey’s personal loyalty. An early conversation, on January 27th, over dinner in the Green Room of the White House, set the tone: Comey was to answer to Trump, or the F.B.I. director would be gone. As Comey put it, he saw that Trump was trying to set up a ‘patronage relationship.’ ” -- The New Yorker
Trump tweeted this morning, “Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication...and WOW, Comey is a leaker!”
Why should we believe President Trump and not believe James Comey. It’s been clearly established that Trump has a problem with telling the truth. There are no “alternative facts” to the truth.
In rebutting Comey's testimony that Trump appeared to be trying to create a patronage relationship with the former FBI director, Trump's attorney, Marc Kasowitz, said that the President "never told Comey, 'I need loyalty, I expect loyalty,' in form or substance."
That’s very lawyerly of you Mr. Kasowitz, but if the President didn’t directly ask Comey for his loyalty, the intent certainly was there.
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Former FBI Director James Comey takes his seat to testify
at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill
on Thursday.
Andrew Harnik / Ap
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By Jeffrey Toobin
