James Comey Is Not Alone

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/06/james_comey_is_not_alone.html

June 8 2017 1:08 AM
James Comey Is Not Alone

The press, anonymous sources, and public testimony have all converged to corroborate the former FBI director’s story about Donald Trump.
By William Saletan


The 2016 election and its aftermath have wrecked public faith in institutions. President Trump says you can’t trust the “fake media.” The left says you can’t trust anyone in the Trump administration or the Republican Party. Everyone has attacked the credibility of the country’s most prominent law enforcement officer, former FBI Director James Comey.

But as we learn more about Trump and Russia, a curious thing is happening. The three tarnished institutions—media, government, and law enforcement—are converging. Comey, the press, and people in the Trump administration are telling compatible and often highly similar stories about what’s going on behind the scenes. A common, underlying force—reality—is pulling them together and isolating Trump.

Three events in less than 24 hours illustrate this convergence. The first was Tuesday night’s Washington Post report on conversations between Trump and senior officials about the Russia investigation. The second was a Wednesday hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, at which some of those officials testified. The third was the committee’s release of Comey’s written testimony, scheduled for delivery Thursday, about his meetings with Trump.

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On Thursday, Comey testifies before the committee. Trump and his worst surrogates are already attacking the former FBI director. They think it’s Trump’s word against Comey’s. But it isn’t. It’s Trump’s word against everybody’s. Comey, the press, the anonymous sources, the publicly interrogated officials: In various ways, they’re all telling the same story. It’s about a corrupt president clumsily trying to derail an investigation. It’s the story of a man who took on the truth and lost.