Conservatives and liberals saw two different Comey hearings

William Cummings | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Comey explains why he thinks he was fired Former FBI Director James Comey says he takes President Trump at his word that his firing was over the Russia investigation.

It's hard to find a clearer example of the widening media divide in America than the reactions to James Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

While stories and op-eds on the left called the hearing "historic," saying the former FBI director made a strong case, the coverage on the right tended to agree with President Trump that the testimony "vindicated" him. Conservative media also gave much more attention to Comey's revelations about the Clinton email investigation.

Here are some examples of pieces from both sides of the ideological fence the performed well with readers.

Liberals: Comey showed Trump can't be trusted

This piece in Mother Jones from David Corn summed up the most common takeaways from progressive commentators in the wake of Comey's testimony:

Here is the bombshell: a former FBI director has said publicly and under oath that the current president of the United States cannot be trusted. This is unprecedented and highly troubling. Though James Comey, whom President Donald Trump fired in May, had the day before disclosed his prepared testimony chronicling his disturbing interactions with Trump, his dramatic and much-anticipated appearance Thursday morning before the Senate intelligence committee reinforced and expanded the damning indictment Comey presented in his statement. He noted that he believed that Trump had privately directed him to drop the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn that was part of the FBI’s ongoing Russia probe. He also testified that he saw Trump’s statements to him about the Russia investigation as an order to quash the probe. And he accused the president and the White House of lying.

Corn called for "probing Trump's efforts to rig the FBI investigation" and said Comey's testimony casts Trump as "a Nixonesque scoundrel who attempted to abuse his power." But like Comey, he left the question of whether the president's conduct was illegal to the special counsel's investigation.

The theme that Comey revealed Trump to be a liar appeared in many pieces — for example, The Nation story headlined, "Comey on Trump: Liar, liar, liar, liar, liar" — although few said Comey's testimony revealed proof of anything criminal.

Conservatives: Comey vindicated Trump

"James Comey’s public testimony exonerates President Trump of obstruction of justice," wrote Fox News reporter Gregg Jarrett in an opinion piece that echoes the feeling of many conservatives.

To put it simply, “hoping” that something happens is not a crime. The law demands much more than that. Felony obstruction requires that the person seeking to obstruct a law enforcement investigation act “corruptly.” The statute specifically defines what that includes: threats, lies, bribes, destruction of documents, and altering or concealing evidence. None of that is alleged by Comey

The National Review editorial board said "the former FBI director painted a deeply unflattering portrait of the president," but adds that "the legal case that Democrats are trying to mount against the president remains far-fetched.

In a piece for Fox News Opinion headlined, "Comey confirms that I'm right — and all the Democratic commentators are wrong," lawyer Alan Dershowitz — not himself a conservative, but actually a Democrat — agreed.

Comey confirmed that under our Constitution, the president has the authority to direct the FBI to stop investigating any individual. I paraphrase, because the transcript is not yet available: the president can, in theory, decide who to investigate, who to stop investigating, who to prosecute and who not to prosecute ... So let’s move on and learn all the facts regarding the Russian efforts to intrude on American elections without that investigation being impeded by frivolous efforts to accuse President Trump of committing a crime by exercising his constitutional authority.

Liberals: GOP chooses 'party over country'

Many from the left were incredulous at Republican politicians and pundits' efforts to defend Trump's actions as described by Comey.

"Just one of our two parties is interested in checking this president's abuse," wrote Jamelle Bouie, Slate's chief political correspondent. "What defined Thursday’s hearing, in fact, was the degree to which Republicans downplayed obvious examples of bad — potentially illegal — behavior and sought to exonerate Trump rather than grapple with Comey’s damning allegations about the president."

After House Speaker Paul Ryan defended Trump by saying, "The president is new at this," Daily Kos senior political writer Joan McCarter slammed Ryan as "not being fit for his own job." Ryan's dismissal of Trump "is as damning of Ryan as of Trump."

Conservatives: But her emails ...

Conservative commentators jumped all over a revelation out of Comey's testimony that was largely ignored by liberals: Comey said former Attorney General Loretta Lynch asked him to call the probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server a "matter" instead of an "investigation." The Blaze and other sites saw this as proof Lynch intervened to "downplay" the investigation.

"If there was any obstruction of justice taking place, it would appear that the Democrats and the Clintons were likely as guilty of it as they claim the Trump administration is," wrote Jim Jamitis for RedState.