During the Watergate hearings, Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee asked, “What did the president know and when did he know it?” At the outset of Senate hearings and an investigation by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III into the Trump campaign’s connection to Russian operatives and Russian interference in the 2016 president campaign, the question is: “What did the president mean when he said what he said to FBI Director James Comey?”
That question was not conclusively answered by Comey in his testimony Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. But Comey said a lot. Quite a lot.
The Senate committee tried to get at what was actually said between Trump and Comey in highly unusual private conversations. Comey said he believed the president directed him to drop the FBI investigation of former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
According to Comey, Trump said in a private Oval Office conversation, “He (Flynn) is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
Comey said he took that as directive to drop the investigation. That would be obstruction of justice. But not all senators agreed. There will be much debate over what “hope” meant in that context.
What will be more fodder for the president’s supporters is Comey’s admission that he leaked contents of memos of his private meetings with Trump to the press through an intermediary after being fired from the FBI.
We don’t dismiss leaking documents, but Comey is not a partisan operative. He is not a lifelong Democrat with an ax to grind.
So it is important to put partisanship aside, as difficult as that may be. Comey raises a legitimate point when he asks: Why did the president have everyone leave the Oval Office before he brought up the Flynn investigation and said he hoped Comey could let it go?
On Thursday, Comey said, “Lordy, I hope there are tapes.” Those are not the words of man with something to hide. The truth here is we have yet to learn the truth.
What did the president mean when he said what he said? We do not know. But we know Comey was deeply concerned about the meetings and the possibility that the president might lie about them. He said in his written testimony that the president in a private White House dinner said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”
The American people need answers, they expect answers.
