Didn’t He Know Comey Was a Cop?

The tug that made it a hug
It was a meeting in the Oval Office on February 14th, the day after events had forced President Trump to fire Mike Flynn, claiming it was only for his lying to the vice president that there was no mention of sanctions in Flynn's conversation with the Russian ambassador in December. The meeting was about a terrorism threat, but once concluded, Trump asked the attendees to leave — Mike Pence and Jeff Sessions included — but asked FBI Director Jim Comey to stay.

In a memo he wrote shortly after leaving — "very rich in detail" said a Comey friend to Politico — Mr. Comey recorded that the president had asked if Comey would shut down the investigation into Flynn. Reported first by the New York Times, the memo quoted Mr. Trump as saying,

“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

FBI associates were given the memo to read at the time, but it has not been made public. Colleagues at the FBI past and present say that Comey is in the habit of writing aides memoires — also known as memos to the file — to record as accurately as possible who said what in an encounter as a corrective to faulty memory or dishonesty. Contemporaneous records of the sort by FBI agents have been accepted into evidence in criminal trials.

This was not the first such memo. His associates say that Mr. Comey had been ill at ease at Mr. Trump's seeming desire to establish a friendly relationship. Comey's friend Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and editor-in-chief of the Lawfare blog, recounted in an interview by the PBS NewsHour that Comey had told him of his "disgust" at Trump's summoning him across the White House Blue Room at a gathering honoring law enforcement officials just two days after inauguration and using a handshake to pull him into a hug, as if to compromise him. It was a scene shown repeatedly on television. Five days later Comey would be asked to dinner at the White House (see " We’ve Heard Trump’s Version. Over to You, Mr. Comey") when the President would try to extract from Comey a pledge of loyalty. Another time, as Comey was about to board a helicopter, Trump had called simply to chat.

Asked at a press conference, with the president of Colombia alongside, whether he had asked Comey to end the probe, Trump responded "No. No. Next Question". He had already tweeted:

It was a rather pointless bluff, suggesting that when Comey repeats his allegations under oath he will be lying. It brought a flurry of speculation of whether Trump has all White House meetings recorded. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) on the Senate intelligence committee, said he will “absolutely” subpoena any recordings. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Az) on the House intelligence committee will use subpoenas if necessary to "compel" release of any "tapes" or other evidence.

James Comey has agreed to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in open session sometime after Memorial Day. But in the meantime, Rod Rosenstein, apparently anxious to rid himself of the messy business, has appointed Robert Mueller, FBI director from 2001 to 2013 and the picture of rectitude, as special counsel to investigate whether any crimes have been committed — collusion with Russians or otherwise. The President tweeted:

The question is, will Mueller let Comey's appearance go forward? If Mueller intends to probe whether there was obstruction, he may not want witnesses testifying before Congress. That would reveal to Trump or whomever Comey's story before he's had a chance to interview other witnesses in the case.

Mueller would risk triggering a firestorm and instantly lose credibility. Mueller is a Republican and silencing Comey — once his boss as deputy attorney general when Mueller was running the FBI — will appear to be protecting Donald Trump. And the public would be irate, derived of the biggest televised political spectacle since the Watergate hearings.

Wittes closed out that interview with this observation: "Trump fired Jim Comey because the most dangerous thing in the world, if you are Donald Trump, is a person who tells the truth, is dogged, you can’t control, and who is as committed as Comey is to the institutional independence of an organization that has the power to investigate you".

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