No one should let this go.

This is probably how the story arc of Donald Trump's presidency had to begin its descent, with a man so gripped by hubris he believes he can shut down a federal criminal investigation with charm and intimidation.

This is probably how his autocratic dysfunction had to be exposed, by a public servant of unimpeachable probity, with routines so rigid that he seems spit out by an algorithm.

No, this cannot be let go: If the contemporaneous notes from James Comey are authentic - and he is the kind of bureaucrat who probably documents the ties he wears each day - it isn't hard to conclude that Trump sought to obstruct justice by asking the FBI Director to kill the Michael Flynn investigation with, "I hope you can let this go."

Because three months after Comey refused to let it go, he was shown the door.

It happened after he refused to comply with Trump's demand for loyalty, which sounded like an ultimatum from a mob boss.

It happened after the investigation he led was gaining a nagging momentum, as Trump admitted to Lester Holt.

No, anyone who believes in the independence of criminal inquiries - free from executive manipulation and political agenda - cannot let this go. The Comey memo is the most tangible evidence of Trump interfering with the FBI's investigation of the president, his associates, and possible collusion with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

It also reinforces the urgency for an independent commission empaneled by Congress or a special prosecutor appointed by deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, to investigate all the aspects of the Trump campaign's connection to Russia, an investigation that Congress has been too squeamish to undertake.

The first sign of an Article 1 pulse beat thumped Tuesday evening, when House Oversight Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) - reacquainted with his courage since announcing his pending retirement - demanded all documents and recordings of interactions between the president and Comey be turned over. Eureka: The porch light is on after all.

The Senate Intelligence chairman, however, seemed more interested in damage control: It took Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) nearly 24 hours to mention testimony or subpoenas. Until then, he figured the circumstances called for eyewitnesses who can attest that Trump shot someone in the face on Fifth Avenue.

He was also willing to overlook the president's telling tweet-taunts, including the one that had warned Comey to keep leaks to himself.

Trump somehow missed this: The FBI, a tribal bunch, cannot let it go.

As one agent told the Daily Beast following Comey's firing, "Everyone feels like there has been a death in the family." Interim Director Andrew McCabe told Congress that the vast majority of FBI employees had a "deep, positive connection to Director Comey." As the New York Times proved again Tuesday, there is never a shortage of FBI memos, and FBI guys know the exact order in which to pass them out. They learned that from a progenitor named Deep Throat.

The legislative leaders cannot let it go.

It's not because the latest revelation triggered some patriotic desire to spare the nation from a constitutional crisis that has so far been met with partisan thumb-twiddling. They cannot let it go because their agenda is putrefying: It's time to cut bait and find another champion, because they are more likely to get their Obamacare repeal and billionaire's tax cut from President Mike Pence anyway.

The What-If-Clinton Chorus cannot let it go.

Imagine the reaction from Chaffetz - whose career has been marked by years of chasing phantoms - if Hillary Clinton had tried to stonewall an FBI investigation of any kind. Imagine the apoplexy on Fox News, and the sidesplitting uproar if Democrats tried to make this an issue about news leaks.

No one should let this go.

Nobody could stop paying attention even if they tried.

It's time for a serious investigation.

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