A deadly serious conclusion can be drawn from former FBI Director James Comey' s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee: Donald Trump cares more about himself than about the security of the United States.
That disturbing reality is getting scant attention, however, as Republicans and Democrats
cull through the various things Mr. Comey said to find further
justifications for their predisposed and opposing positions. Mr. Comey
told the senators that the president had improperly urged him to pull
back from the FBI investigation into ex-National Security Adviser Mike Flynn's
dealings with the Russians while pushing the director to give him a
pledge of personal loyalty. Democrats insist Mr. Trump's actions showed
clear intent to obstruct justice. Republicans are shrugging it all off
as a rookie mistake.
Republicans are also making a big deal out of
Mr. Comey's acknowledgement that Mr. Trump was not a target of the FBI
probe. Meanwhile, Democrats have latched onto Mr. Trump's firing of Mr.
Comey as another example of Mr. Trump trying to subvert the
investigation into his campaign aides.
Mr. Comey made the point
that Mr. Trump, himself, confirmed his dismissal was driven by the
president's concerns about the Russia inquiry, not by alleged poor
management.
"The
administration chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by
saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led,
that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader," Mr. Comey said.
"Those were lies, plain and simple."
The assertion that the
president is a major league liar is hard to dispute, but being caught in
a lie has never hurt Mr. Trump. The bottom line after Mr. Comey's
testimony: Unless the special prosecutor or one of the congressional
committees finds a hot, smoking gun, the Republicans will never start an
impeachment proceeding against Mr. Trump, no matter how fervently
liberals across America long for it. Mr. Comey did not provide that gun.
What
he did provide was a reminder of the core concern that has been nearly
ignored in all the partisan jockeying: The Russian assault on the
American electoral system is real.
"The reason this is such a big
deal is we have this big, messy, wonderful country where we fight with
each other all the time, but nobody tells us what to think, what to
fight about, what to vote for except other Americans," Comey said. "And
that's wonderful and often painful. But we're talking about a foreign
government, using technical intrusion and lots of other methods, that
tried to shape the way we think, we vote, we act. That is a big deal.
"And
people need to recognize it. It's not about Republicans or Democrats.
(The Russians are) coming after America, which I hope we all love
equally. They want to undermine our credibility in the face of the
world. They think that this great experiment of ours is a threat to
them, and so they're going to try to run it down and dirty it up as much
as possible."
Despite his rookie failings and mendacious ways,
Mr. Trump could redeem himself in the eyes of many people if he would
start taking the Russian meddling seriously. Instead, he has gone out of
his way to make excuses for Vladmir Putin's hackers and spies. He has
asserted that no one really knows who hacked what, despite the universal
conclusion of U.S. intelligence services that it was the Russians. He
has repeatedly alleged that the concern about Russian activities is
being manufactured by the Democrats to provide an excuse for Hillary
Clinton's defeat in November. Other than disingenuous pro forma
statements in favor of getting the facts about Russian interference, Mr.
Trump has done nothing but undermine efforts to uncover the extent of
Russia's attack on American democracy.
Instead of caring about the
country, Mr. Trump has only been concerned about himself. That is what
came through in Mr. Comey's testimony. The president is obsessed with
his own reputation, not the nation's security. He did not ask Mr. Comey
to fill him in on Russian subversion, he only wanted to know if anyone
was coming after him.
Mr. Trump's true crime may not be obstruction of justice, but dereliction of duty.
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David Horsey is a political commentator for the Los Angeles Times. Go to latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/ to see more of his work.
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