In the hours since former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired on the cusp of his retirement, political combatants have become even more committed to their preferred narratives about President Trump and the Russia investigation.
For Republicans and Trump supporters, it is the latest evidence of permanent government interests working to undermine a duly elected president who was never part of their establishment clique, leaking about matters they were supposed to be investigating impartially as part of a probe that could trigger a constitutional crisis.
For Democrats and “Never Trump,” it was the latest handiwork of a spiteful and vengeful president, who routinely transgresses institutional norms and legal boundaries while traducing the dedicated public servants who stand in his way, perhaps precipitating a constitutional crisis of his own making.
Both sides seem to be working overtime to hand the other material with which to make their case.
The public has yet to see the inspector general’s report that led to the recommendation that McCabe be fired practically on the eve of his retirement. They have seen Trump’s fusillade of tweets about the matter, which come in the context of a highly public campaign against McCabe’s reputation by the sitting president of the United States.
A more cautious president would have kept quiet, letting Attorney General Jeff Sessions do his work and the facts of the McCabe probe — started under the previous administration, once welcomed by McCabe’s own personal attorney — rather than becoming a player in this controversy. Trump has never been cautious and has helped ensure that all things McCabe will be viewed through a partisan lens.
Those rallying in solidarity with McCabe may be acting out of patriotic impulse or personal loyalty. But in appearance, they are looking very much like the “deep state” Trump and his partisans keep warning us about.
Former CIA Director John Brennan, an Obama appointee, told Trump on Twitter that when his “venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, an Obama appointee, then warned Trump it is “not a good idea to piss off John Brennan.” Why the threat? If Trump is indeed guilty of “political corruption,” the former CIA chief’s feelings about the elected president should be irrelevant.
These tweets do more to encourage the belief that people tasked with investigating Trump are out to get him than any of the president’s own diatribes possibly could. They also help change the subject from whether there was collusion with Russia, which Trump has repeatedly denied, to whether there is collusion between Obama appointees and permanent government officials.
The same holds true for former FBI Director James Comey’s social media missives, the latest of which sounds like a particularly shameless book plug. “Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon,” Comey tweeted. “And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.”
It is understandable that Comey would want to defend his agency, his colleagues, his friends, and himself from attacks he deems unfair, especially coming from the president of the United States. But in so doing, he frequently sounds like a partisan opponent of Trump rather than a more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger defender of good government. He undoubtedly hopes his book will be purchased by the same people who buy Michael Moore’s.
Given that Comey has arguably mishandled his every intervention into a public controversy dating all the way back to his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, perhaps some humility is in order here. Not nine months ago, many Democrats held Comey more responsible for Trump’s election than Russian interference.
Humility, however, is in short supply with both Comey and Trump.
For Trump, the risk is he will be baited into firing someone in the legal chain of command that includes Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or Russia special counsel Robert Mueller. All of the above still appears to be a no-go zone for Senate Republicans that could endanger Trump’s presidency.
But reducing this to a partisan dispute is probably an even greater mistake for those who are convinced Trump is guilty of serious wrongdoing. Partisan impeachments tend to fail. It is ultimately Republicans who have to be convinced Trump is guilty for him to actually be removed from office. They will seek a higher burden of proof from Mueller than anything seen so far.
Until that burden of proof is realized, intemperate tweets trump self-satisfied op-eds and memoirs. That’s not good for the rule of law or the pre-eminence of the elected branches of government.
