Bars are opening early or passing out free drinks. It’s the Super Bowl in Washington, the equivalent of the Night Hank Williams Came to Town.
Fired FBI Director James Comey is testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Everyone’s abuzz and atwitter. Maybe we shouldn’t be, though. There are three good reasons to suspect we will learn little or nothing new from Thursday’s hearing.
1) Comey already gave us the goods
Our editorial page on Wednesday was lining up an editorial demanding Comey provide the public with what he owes them: a full accounting, from his contemporaneous notes, of every meeting he had with Trump. Yesterday, Comey published his prepared testimony, which consisted of a full accounting, from his contemporaneous notes, of every meeting he had with Trump.
If Comey didn’t include it in the testimony, there’s a good reason. Maybe he didn’t recall it in any further detail. Maybe it was confidential. Maybe it was non-germane. Maybe it would be overly speculative on his part.
2) Democrats will grandstand for the cameras and cable news and MSM Twitter will eat it up
California freshman Sen. Kamala Harris gave us a preview Wednesday with her pointless line of questioning punctuated by the favorite demagogic tactic of senators at the podium: demanding a yes or no answer to a question that can only honestly be answered with more nuance.
You’ll know the hearing is a bust if the most viral clip today is of some Democratic Senator’s aggressive questioning and not Comey himself.
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) June 8, 2017
So if you turn on cable news after the hearings or check Twitter during them, don’t be surprised to see “Harris Puts Comey in His Place!” or something along those lines. Maybe she’ll ask him “Has President Trump ever stopped doing the bidding of Putin? Yes or No?” or “Do you feel bad for stealing the election from Hillary Clinton? This is a yes or no question, Mr. Comey.”
Heck, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer serves, ex officio, as a member of the committee. Put him in front of a camera, and the demagoguery will fly.
3) Republicans will favor dumb attacks on Comey to productive questions
Fox News hosts are already trying to make it a scandal somehow that Comey kept notes after all of his meetings with Trump but didn’t do the same under Obama (I think we can guess why). The RNC talking points suggest Republicans are going to use this opportunity to attack Comey’s credibility and honesty.
But the truth is there are a couple of very interesting stories here. One is whether Trump was trying to impede an FBI investigation just to help Mike Flynn, or whether there’s some other explanation for Trump’s comments. Does this rise to the level of obstruction of justice, mere impropriety, or simply cluelessness by the president?
Some sharp, well-thought-out lines of questioning could get at these issues. But that’s not likely today.
On the other hand, Comey has surprised us before. Maybe Washington will get the juicy details everyone is hoping for.
Timothy P. Carney, the Washington Examiner’s commentary editor, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.
