An unpresidented rebuke

In an astonishing congressional hearing Monday, the heads of the National Security Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation undercut the credibility of the President of the United States. They did so repeatedly, without hesitation or equivocation.

People who care about facts and the nation’s trust in core institutions must for the umpteenth time insist that President Trump, who has accused his predecessor of abusing his power and compromising the integrity of the intelligence services, retract his statements.

In a depressingly partisan House Intelligence Committee session to probe Russian interference in the 2016 elections, the questions members of Congress put to FBI Director Jim Comey and NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers corresponded completely to representatives’ party affiliations.

In tone set by Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, Republicans asked not at all about the substance of contacts or potential collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign apparatus and Kremlin officials.

Their singular obsession was who in the government may have told the press about questionable behavior, including about former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s multiple contacts with the Russian ambassador on the day President Barack Obama punished Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government for its hacking of Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee emails.

Republicans appeared unperturbed that those unauthorized disclosures exposed potentially illegal conduct. Their scrutiny was aimed solely at whoever revealed the vital information — revelations without which Flynn would still be sitting at the heart of power, guiding the President on matters of war and peace.

Democrats, far more responsibly, acknowledged the seriousness of the leaks — which are, in fact, criminal — but moved on to the substance of Russia’s meddling.

There, they learned that there is, in fact, an ongoing FBI probe into links and potential collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russia. It has been underway, amazingly, since last July.

But it was in questions aimed at Comey and Rogers that the trustworthiness of the President of United States evaporated before the nation’s eyes.

Is there any information, a congressman asked Comey, to support Trump’s claims that Obama ordered intelligence and law enforcement agencies to wiretap him, as Trump has tweeted multiple times?

Comey’s answer: There is “no information” at the FBI, or at the Department of Justice, to support that claim.

Would Rogers agree with the British characterization that the notion their spy agency wiretapped Trump on Obama’s behalf, an allegation made by a Fox News commentator and repeated from the White House podium, was “nonsense” and “utterly ridiculous”? Rogers’ answer: “Yes, sir.” The American people should be deeply disturbed by either of two inescapable conclusions: Their President is content to live in an alternate reality in which any and all news that challenges him is “fake” — including any evidence that illuminates ties between his close associates and a foreign adversary — or their President is willfully dissembling to keep those ties out of the public view.