Riveting TV leaves Trump battered

For the countless millions who held watch parties or sneaked a peek at work, James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday was riveting television.

No matter that Comey had been fired by President Trump, it was still stunning to hear the former FBI director call the president of the United States a liar.

Comey came across as credible, thoughtful and forthcoming — and as having been intimidated by some of Trump’s requests, including his request for “loyalty.”

The remarkable testimony left a lot to absorb, but suffice it to say, it was a bad day for the president. The main takeaways:

On lying: Comey said he took notes on his conversations with Trump because of “the nature of the person.”

“I was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of our meeting. I knew there might come a day when I might need a record of what happened, not only to defend myself, but to protect the FBI.”

There are not a lot of countries where the former chief investigative officer can talk about the president being a liar, for all the world to see and hear.

Comey said he’d been told he was fired for how he handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Later, he heard Trump say he’d been fired “because of the Russia investigation.”

“The administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray… Those were lies, plain and simple.”

Talk about your riveting TV. Later, Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders came out and said, “I can definitely say the president’s not a liar.”

On leaks: Comey showed he could play the political game as well as anyone when he admitted having leaked his memos about conversations with Trump, figuring they would be leaked to the press and spur the appointment of a special counsel. The startling revelation again showed how Comey didn’t trust Trump.

“My judgment,” Comey said, “was I needed to get (the notes) out into the public square.”

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio leveled a good shot at Comey. He lamented that everything about the investigation of Russia’s meddling in the election was leaked — except that Comey had told Trump three times he was not personally being investigated.

Comey didn’t have a good answer. But in response to Rubio’s previous question, he’d said he was afraid making such a statement would create “a duty to correct” if new information arose, and “it’s a slippery slope” to announce who is and isn’t under investigation.

On Twitter, NBC News investigations reporter Tom Winter offered his own retort: “Not true Marco Rubio. We’ve reported on numerous occasions that the President himself was not personally under investigation.”

(Rubio and another member of the intelligence committee had dinner with President Trump on Wednesday evening and is reported to be working closely with the White House to rewrite our nation’s Cuba policy.) On the central issue:

In his prepared testimony, Comey laid out Trump’s request that he drop the investigation into former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.

According to Comey, Trump said: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, asked Comey if he saw Trump’s request as an order. Comey said he “took it as a direction.”

Who wouldn’t? If your president says, “I hope you do this,” who would say no? Most likely, you’d say: “Your wish is my command.”

Said Comey: “I mean, this is a president of the United States with me alone saying, ‘I hope this.’ I took it as, this is what he wants me to do. I didn’t obey that, but that’s the way I took it.”

Rubio asked why Comey didn’t say something sooner if he felt Trump’s comments were out of bounds. Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California asked the same: “Why didn’t you stop and say, ‘Mr. President, this is wrong?’ ”

“Maybe if I were stronger I would have,” Comey replied. “I was so stunned by the conversation, I just took it in.”

His answer is believable. Sometimes, in the moment, it’s hard to come up with what you wish you’d said. Plus, Comey quickly told Attorney General Jeff Sessions he did not want to be left alone again with the president.

Against the backdrop of Thursday’s hearing, the president’s defenders seem to suggest Trump should get a pass because he didn’t know better.

“The president is new at this,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday. “He’s new to government. And so he probably wasn’t steeped into the long-going protocols that established the relationships between DOJ, FBI and White Houses.”

But when did ignorance of the law become a defense?

Whether Trump’s request meets the threshold of obstruction of justice will be decided another day, but it remains the central question as the drama of the day receded.

Trump may not have been mortally wounded by Thursday’s hearing, but he was plenty battered.

And hearing the president described as a liar certainly didn’t make you proud of the man in the White House.