Just the beginning

The Senate committee tried to get at what was actually said between President Trump and James Comey in highly unusual private conversations. Comey said he believed the president directed him to drop the FBI investigation of former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.

What will be more fodder for the president’s supporters is Comey’s admission that he leaked contents of memos of his private meetings with Trump to the press through an intermediary after being fired from the FBI. Comey said he doubted the Justice Department would be able to conduct a thorough investigation and wanted a special counsel to assume that role.

We don’t dismiss leaking documents, but Comey is not a partisan operative. He is not a lifelong Democrat with an ax to grind. He is a highly respected public servant, and it was his testimony to Congress in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign that added new doubts to Hillary Clinton’s truthfulness about her private email server and correspondence on it.

So it is important to put partisanship aside, as difficult as that may be. Comey raises a legitimate point when he asks: Why did the president have everyone leave the Oval Office before he brought up the Flynn investigation and said he hoped Comey could let it go?

The president does himself no favors by refusing to stop tweeting and speaking off the cuff. Trump has intimated there might be tapes of his meetings with Comey.

On Thursday, Comey said, “Lordy, I hope there are tapes.” Those are not the words of man with something to hide.

What did the president mean when he said what he said? We do not know. But we know Comey was deeply concerned about the meetings and the possibility that the president might lie about them. He said in his written testimony that the president, in a private White House dinner said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”

The American people need answers, they expect answers. Thursday was just the beginning of the process.