THE NEWS SAYS

The generosity of which Trump speaks should begin by letting the public learn what might be in store for them.

As Congress seeks to get to the bottom of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, any potential Trump campaign collusion, and possible later attempts to shut down the related criminal investigation, the Trump administration’s evasions are growing increasingly creative.

Under oath Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions dodged question after question about the motivations behind the firing of then-FBI Director Jim Comey on the preposterous rationale that President Trump might, in the future, seek to invoke executive privilege on such matters.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is seeking to determine, among other things, what triggered Trump suddenly to ax Comey in early May for what quickly proved to be pretextual reasons.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein authored a memo justifying the decision by citing a litany of missteps from 2016. Sessions cited that memo in his own letter recommending Comey’s termination, and Trump, at least on paper, accepted the recommendations.

Turned out Trump made the decision himself before the memos were written and had something else on his mind. The President told NBC News’ Lester Holt he was thinking of “this Russia thing.”

The day after the termination, Trump told Kremlin visitors to the Oval Office: “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

The disconnect between the offered reasons is glaring, and Sessions is a key witness who can shed light on the President’s expressed motivations at the time.

Under oath, he refused and refused, citing Justice Department policies and practices that no one seems to have ever written down.

Trump has explicitly chosen not to invoke what’s known as executive privilege, his prerogative not to answer questions about deliberations with staff. Sessions, in his role, has no such right. But he effectively invoked it by placing all communications with Trump in a cone of silence.

Give the man credit for ingenuity in the art of obfuscation.