Amid a thicket of highly debatable assertions, attorney Emmet Flood makes one point in his recent letter to Attorney General William Barr that is almost indisputably correct and important.

Flood, a special counsel to President Trump, complained pointedly that former FBI Director James Comey, upon being fired from the FBI, leaked “confidential information” to the press via a third party “for the proclaimed purpose of prompting a criminal investigation” involving President Trump. And Comey succeeded in this: His leak led almost directly to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. It wasn’t the only factor in necessitating the appointment, but it certainly was a major precipitating factor.