Comey Forces Trump Defenders Into Extreme and Absurd Spin (David Corn)

[Amaryllis]

very long snip
This is the conclusion:

On the right, the urge to make all this go away is so strong that reality must be insulted. A former FBI director—publicly and under oath—accusing a president of trying to halt an FBI investigation is itself a bombshell. (Imagine what Republicans would have done if an FBI chief had declared that President Barack Obama tried to muscle him to protect a close associate.) Trump is not vindicated. He stands accused by a credible witness. Comey disclosing that he thrice told Trump that he was not a direct target of the FBI’s Russia investigation does not mitigate this fact. As Comey noted, during one of his conversations with Trump, the president raised the possibility that “satellite” associates of his might have engaged in wrongdoing. (And if Republicans and Trump’s defenders are going to take Comey at his word when he says he told Trump he was not personally under investigation, they must accept Comey’s claim that Trump tried to subvert the Flynn investigation.)

It is especially concerning that the man in charge of the Senate’s Russia investigation, which has been regarded as the most credible effort on Capitol Hill probing the scandal, sees no “wrongdoing” in Trump’s attempt to stifle an FBI probe.

In any world not governed by the need to defend Trump at all costs, the Comey statement would be devastating in the eyes of all. Comey’s tale calls into question the president’s understanding and allegiance to the rule of law. It casts Trump as a liar and a scoundrel who engaged in action that might even be illegal. Republicans and Trump defenders cannot accept the true meanings of this text. To do so would be to acknowledge too much. They have to distort reality and embrace dishonesty to deny the statement’s significance and its newsworthiness, to dismiss it as nothing, or to cherry-pick the few lines that partially support Trump’s previous assertions. Consequently, they have to bare their worst to protect their president. Trump has forced them into an ugly act of self-abuse that cheapens them and abets a dangerous erosion of constitutional democracy.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/comey-statement-trump-defenders-absurd-spin/

[Kleveland]

1. Keep diggin' that hole Republicans!

Hell ain't half full yet.

[UCmeNdc]

2. The Democratic party must regain the majority of representatives in the house.

It will save the United States from Trump's treason.

[Doug the Dem]

3. Richard Burr is the one being referred to as

"the man in charge of the Senate’s Russia investigation"

Just a bit of clarification for those who didn't read the whole piece.