James Comey sees Donald Trump as dishonest, and has seen him as such since their first meeting in January, the former FBI director let on early in Thursday’s hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Comey, in his additional opening statement recounted the White House’s shifting explanations for President Trump firing Comey, and concluded, “those were lies, plain and simple.”
Comey got more personal and broader later when asked why he kept detailed notes after his meetings with Trump — a practice he didn’t have under Presidents George W. Bush or Barack Obama.
Among other reasons, Comey said he felt compelled to keep the notes because of “The nature of the person. I was honestly concerned [Trump] might lie about the nature of our meeting.”
All politicians lie. Trump’s lying has seemed to be more frequent and more blatant than that of other politicians. Either from watching him publicly or possibly just from dealing with him personally, Comey concluded that Trump might lie about what he said and what Comey said.
Does this reflect a double standard by Comey? Yes, kind of. It really reflects that Comey saw Trump’s character as being significantly different from that of his predecessors. Different people require different levels of scrutiny.
Timothy P. Carney, the Washington Examiner’s commentary editor, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.
