Right or wrong, why now?
Trump faced an unavoidable and escalating conflict in deciding Comey's fate -- a conflict that deepened with every presidential tweet dismissing the inquiry into Russian hacking and denigrating, explicitly or implicitly, the intelligence and law-enforcement agents who work for him. Tweets such as this, from Monday: "The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?" Remind me, who was overseeing this alleged charade?
Indeed, the untenable nature of Trump's conflict was encapsulated in his own dismissal letter to Comey: "While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau."
Think about this, the sitting president of the United States announcing that he is not a crook -- well, in his telling, not a suspected crook -- as he fires the man who has been leading the investigation of his presidential campaign's possible involvement with Russia.
If people aren't buying Trump's asserted rationale, it is because Trump made this bed of distrust. Nothing in his conduct offers comfort that he understands the importance of the independence of the Justice Department. Nothing suggests that he takes seriously the gravity of Russian intervention in the election or wants to get to the bottom of the mess.
Trump's priority is, first and always, Trump. Which raises the question: Knowing, as he must have, that dismissing Comey would set off a firestorm, why did he calculate that this move was in his self-interest?
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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.
(c) 2017, Washington Post Writers Group
