What Comey Got Right

I have been critical of James Comey’s past violations of long-standing norms of the Department of Justice, and agreed with much of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s critique of his actions. But I will defend Mr. Comey against misleading points making the rounds in the right-wing blogosphere.

For instance, Comey testified he had no evidence that President Trump attempted to obstruct the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. But the obstruction that has been alleged arose in the Mike Flynn false statement investigation. As Comey himself confirmed, those investigations were separate, although “touching each other.” If charges were brought for obstruction of justice, the attempted obstruction would be of the Flynn investigation: it was Flynn Trump asked Comey to “let go,” on the question of Flynn lying to the FBI in his formal agent interview conducted at the White House, and perhaps other charges.

Second, Comey is being criticized for “leaking” information about his conversations with the President. But is it a “leak” to disclose your own notes of a conversation you participated in? It’s usually considered a leak when you disclose information you’re not entitled to disclose. At the time Comey transferred his notes through his friend to the media he was a free citizen, with personal knowledge of the facts he was reporting, passing on his own written materials, which were not classified. He was at liberty to hold a press conference if he wanted to, and read the notes aloud to the world — or discuss them fully in a congressional hearing, as he did. If what Comey did is leaking, so is every book written by a former official based on their personal notes and recollections.