WASHINGTON – What does the FBI director do when he suspects the president is a manipulative liar? The answer in James Comey’s case is that he writes memos, tries to evade demands for loyalty – and anguishes about protecting himself and the FBI.
But by Comey’s own admission, perhaps he should have done more.
The big news had already surfaced before Comey’s appearance Thursday at the Senate Intelligence Committee, with the release of his prepared testimony. What we got at the hearing was the raw morality play, told in Comey’s words.
“I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, and so I thought it really important to document,” Comey said about his Jan. 6 meeting with Donald Trump. Comey had just briefed the president-elect, alone, about salacious, unverified details of a dossier alleging various Trump escapades in Moscow.
What troubled Comey, he said, was “the circumstances, the subject matter and the person I was interacting with.” As he left Trump Tower, he began writing a self-protective memo describing the encounter.