Unimaginably Immoral: Trump Fires FBI Director James Comey

President Trump’s May 15 firing of FBI Director James Comey unleashed a string of events the nation may feel for years.  By the end of that week, the Justice Department, under mounting public and political pressure, named a special prosecutor to pursue the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in interfering in the 2016 presidential election. Published reports soon indicated investigators were targeting a “person of interest” working on the White House staff.  Those reports described the unnamed individual as “close” to the President. It’s now apparent that person is Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.  Cable news stories, editorial pieces, and blogs suggested Trump’s personal actions constituted obstruction of justice.  A few Congressional Democrats, and more than a few people around the country, openly began using the “I” word and Trump in the same sentence.

Facts aren’t in yet   We know some of the facts of Trump’s conduct, but not everything.  We know he has offered public statements that, on their face, seem like an effort to shut down or impede the FBI’s Russia investigation. He told NBC’s Lester Holt he fired Comey because of that investigation, despite the pretext of dissatisfaction with Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton e-mail matter. Published reports indicated Trump asked Comey to stop investigating his fired national security advisor, General Michael Flynn.  Comey supposedly wrote a memo shortly after that conversation, contemporaneously memorializing the President’s effort to get him to drop that investigation.  The Comey memo hasn’t been released and Comey hasn’t testified about that meeting. Reportedly, he’s agreed to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee in early June. Until everything comes out, we can’t know the exact facts. What we do know has the odious smell of obstruction of justice

We can’t say if the special prosecutor will conclude Trump’s actions constitute obstruction of justice. As Henry, the one of us who’s served as a judicial officer charged with applying the law of obstruction of justice, points out, federal obstruction statues are complex and subject to differing interpretations. As legally trained individuals, we recognize the importance of basing conclusions on complete factual development of the record and a full understanding of applicable law.

Woodson, however, has seen enough.  He says, “The President encouraged Flynn to plead the Fifth, though Flynn remains under investigation for operating as a foreign agent while serving as National Security Advisor and for colluding with the Russians in interfering in our national election. Trump fired the FBI director for not conducting the Russia/Trump investigation in a manner that suited hm.  He asked the heads of the National Intelligence and National Security agencies to declare that they found no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia when they made no such finding. If those actions don’t constitute “High Crimes and Misdemeanors,” I don’t know what does.

“I think few legal scholars would conclude Trump’s actions don’t amount to obstruction of justice. Ultimately, an elected Congress must determine the political question of what constitutes “High Crimes and Misdemeanors.”  I align myself with Justice Potter Stewart’s sentiments when he explained his determination of pornography. I know “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” when I see them.”                   

No crime needed   Despite Rob and Henry’s unwillingness to now say that Trump has committed an impeachable offense, they have no difficulty expressing their moral, political, and patriotic outrage about what’s happened so far.  We titled this piece as we did because we could find no better phrase than Woodson’s characterization of the President’s behavior. “Unimaginably immoral” sums up our feelings about the potential irreparable harm Trump’s acts continue to do to our country’s political and social institutions. We all agree that if Congress and the courts – the co-equal branches of our government – don’t move systematically against him, removing him from office if the facts and law ultimately justify doing so – it may take years for those institutions to recover.

The political calculus concerning impeachment remains much the same as we suggested in our earlier comments on that subject.  With all due respect to Woodson’s belief that it will happen this year, a sober analysis of the politics still makes that a long shot. Special counsel Robert Mueller faces a potentially long and complex investigation. Criminal charges against Trump’s associates, if Mueller brings them, may take years to prosecute.  While Mueller builds cases against individuals, Republicans retain the levers of power in the House where impeachment must originate. They haven’t abandoned Trump and any honest assessment of the mood of Congress still must give him the advantage. Even revelations that Trump shared with the Russians sensitive American intelligence, probably given to the United States by Israel, didn’t pry Republicans from Trump’s side.

Trump’s conduct, especially this sharing of classified intelligence with a hostile foreign power, saddens and sickens us because we grew up in an America that considered such behavior treason.  We find watching the party of Lincoln hem and haw about Trump’s actions especially troubling, since Republicans so often found it convenient to run campaigns challenging Democrats as unpatriotic. The idea an American President could act in such a way long seemed unfathomable to us, but if holding power means everything, we suppose Republican acquiescence to his behavior follows. Trump’s conduct, if unpunished, suggests we’ve become a nation of men, not laws.

Not over until it’s over   We must admit, however, to borrow another overused sports cliché, the fat lady hasn’t sung yet. Neither Mueller’s investigation nor the probes by Congress have come to fruition. Indeed, Mueller just picked up the baton. He enjoys a reputation for determination, independence, and fairness.  Time remains for good Republicans to step forward and become heroes by putting country ahead of party.