President Trump’s lawyer should have checked. Instead, at a press conference immediately following the Senate Intelligence Committee testimony of James Comey, Marc Kasowitz doubled down. And in doing so, he forced a losing showdown between the president and the former FBI director.

In the most stark contradiction, Comey accuses Trump of demanding fealty while Kasowitz insists the president “never told Mr. Comey ‘I need loyalty, I expect loyalty’ in form or substance.” Now that whole Comey-said, Trump-said charade raises a question that will nag the president as long as rumors of Russian electoral-meddling drive headlines: Because both men are accusing each other of lying, why not release the infamous audio tapes of their conversation that Trump referenced on Twitter?