Was the President making his widely known feelings more than apparent or was he directing Comey to end the criminal probe into former NSA Michael Flynn? The latter is required for an obstruction charge, but it can’t be denied that Trump acted in an inappropriate manner. Obama got flack for making public statements that could influence on-going investigations, but that’s almost expected behavior for Trump. Of course Obama never did anything as overt as approach the director himself, instead, he exerted his influence in different ways. As Comey’s testimony confirmed today, Obama’s DOJ directed the FBI to alter their statements for political purposes. By that measure, Trump did far less. There is no discernible evidence that he ever altered a single action by the FBI with respect to any investigation. If he was ‘directing’ Comey to drop an investigation, he took no action when Comey did not alter his course. In fact, by all accounts he never broached the subject again.

This and many of Comey’s other explanations look to be self-serving. It begins with his decision to write memos in the first place. When questioned on the practice he said his first time every doing so followed the first meeting with Trump. His reasoning for beginning a J Edgar Hoover like practice for the ‘first time’ in his career? His ‘gut.’ An incredible lack of candor from a man who is forthcoming in so many other ways. The conversation about Flynn ‘stunned’ him, but what about after the shock wore off? He explained away his lack of notification on very specious grounds. First, he and his staff made the incredible presumption that Sessions would recuse himself in the coming weeks. Then they decided that there was no need to tell the would be acting AG because the person wouldn’t be long in that position. In another world, this man threatened to resign when he thought the reauthorization of a surveillance technique was improperly handled. No such threats were forthcoming under Trump’s presidency despite its supposedly ‘unprecedented’ nature.

Self-serving does not mean false, and while biased, his account of events should be understood to be largely accurate. An unfortunate reality for the publications pushing the Russian collusion narrative. Trump no doubt wanted the FBI to go easy on Flynn and tried to convey that to Comey. Again he proves smarter than his detractors make him out to be by carefully wording his request. He knew full well the discussion was not fully kosher, as evidenced by clearing the room, but apparently he knew James Comey as well. He made no direct order and took no action when his desires weren’t met. Comey promised honesty and then refused to be honest with the public about the investigation and Trump fired him for it. Trump’s poorly handled dismissal of the FBI director is again coming back to haunt him, but the testimony today looks far from sufficient to endanger Trump’s presidency.