A tale of two Comeys - By Ruth Marcus

By Ruth Marcus Columnist June 12 at 7:32 PM

In life, as in literature, the more complex character is the more compelling and the more realistic. We may crave heroes, but we end up with humans. The cardboard figure of unblemished rectitude, who performs impeccably under pressure and is impelled only by the purest motives, gives way to a real person, with all the inevitable blemishes and failings that human nature is heir to. So it is with James B. Comey, the fired FBI director.

The nation’s first introduction to Comey came a decade ago, with his dramatic account of racing to the hospital room of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to head off an effort to pressure the gravely ill Ashcroft to reauthorize a secret surveillance program.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey described the tense scene as top White House aides arrived at Ashcroft’s room in an unavailing effort to secure his signature. FBI agents, dispatched by, yes, then-FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, were posted outside the door to prevent Comey’s ouster as he faced down the president’s men.

This was Comey as superhero, able to leap up hospital stairs in a single bound. It was Comey as resolute public servant, leader of a brave band prepared to quit rather than waver in defense of the rule of law.

“I couldn’t stay, if the administration was going to engage in conduct that the Department of Justice had said had no legal basis,” Comey testified. “I just simply couldn’t stay.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-tale-of-two-comeys/2017/06/12/4ffa9d8e-4fb5-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html