As information continues to emerge about the investigation into President Trump’s alleged ties with Russia, one thing is clear: Trump was right to fire James Comey.

Throughout this two-year investigation, in just about every one of its twists and turns, Comey has been at its center. Whether he’s bragging about taking advantage of a disorganized administration, leaking to the press information that would force the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel, organizing an “insurance plan” to prevent a Trump presidency, or using political opposition research to justify wiretapping an American citizen, Comey proves that his political nature might be as impregnable as his self-righteousness.

Now we know that Comey installed a mole in the White House to feed the FBI information about Trump and his aides in 2017. This inside man, Anthony Ferrante, helped Comey run “a covert operation against” the president, according to two U.S. officials. The arrangement was “in direct conflict with the no-contact policy between the White House and the Department of Justice,” said one former National Security Council official.

Comey has made it clear that he has no problem bending the rules to advance his agenda and it is indeed an agenda, dedicated to one man and one man only: James Comey. He could’ve gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those meddling people! Comey admitted as much last year when he said his political maneuvers were “something I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with” under a different administration.

The “conundrum of James Comey,” as Rich Lowry put it, was that even though Comey deserved to be fired, firing him helped Comey and hurt Trump. “It would have been better to have Comey inside the tent leaking and maneuvering for his own advantage than to have him outside leaking and maneuvering for his own advantage,” Lowry wrote.

Still, Comey underestimated his political influence. In many ways, his involvement in the Russia investigation has discredited it. Few people outside the Democratic Party believed Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. But Comey knew that a costly, time-consuming investigation into the allegations would stain the Trump presidency, regardless of its outcome. It did, and as evidence continues to emerge, it’s obvious this was Comey’s goal all along.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation was, in fact, necessary. But it was necessary, in part, because of Comey’s political maneuvering. The allegations against Trump made it clear that he needed an unbiased source to issue a verdict, and he found that in Mueller, who found no evidence of collusion. Mueller will testify about his findings before Congress on Wednesday.

Perhaps the investigation would have taken place without Comey’s help. He certainly doesn’t think so. But Comey is not Shakespeare’s Brutus, as he seems to think. He abused his power and then claimed he did so for the sake of the nation.

But Comey continues to prove there’s only one person he was acting for: himself.