Consider two episodes from George W. Bushs presidency.
By Karl Rove
For 10 days former FBI Director James Comey has been on a high-profile media tour to promote his book A Higher Loyalty." With more than 600000 copies sold in the first week the book leaves competing resistance" favorites What Happened" and Fire & Fury" in the dust.
But behind the aw-shucks I-was-the-only-honest-man-in-the-room persona Mr. Comeys book demonstrates his real higher loyalty is to self-aggrandizement.
Consider two episodes from George W. Bushs presidency.
Mr. Comey writes that in 2003 he was drawn into the Valerie Plame investigation when administration officials leaked the identity of a covert CIA employee" allegedly as retaliation for a critical op-ed written by Ms. Plames husband. Mr. Comey then deputy attorney general appointed special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald and writes that he stands by the decision to charge Vice President Dick Cheneys chief of staff I. Lewis Scooter" Libby with false statements perjury and obstruction of justice.
Mr. Libby was convicted in 2007. But vital facts are missing from Mr. Comeys account.
The most important is that no one revealed a covert CIA agents name. Though Mr. Comey refers to Ms. Plame seven times as a covert agent" she was not. Thats why Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage who revealed Ms. Plames name to columnist Robert Novak was never indicted.
Mr. Comey also fails to note that the star witness against Mr. Libby former New York Times reporter Judith Miller recanted her testimony in 2015. She said Mr. Fitzgerald misled her and withheld exculpatory evidence that would have kept her from unwittingly giving false testimony."
In a rebuke to Messrs. Fitzgerald and Comey the District of Columbia Court of Appeals cleared Mr. Libby to practice law again in 2016 well before President Trump pardoned him earlier this month.
Then there is Mr. Comeys account of the March 2004 meeting of President Bushs Chief of Staff Andy Card and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales with Attorney General John Ashcroft over reauthorization of a vital post-9/11 intelligence program code-named Stellar Wind.
Here Mr. Comey summons all the melodramatic flair he can muster.
In his telling he and other Justice Department lawyers objected to renewing Stellar Wind unless changes were made. They had won Mr. Ashcroft to their view but he was hospitalized with acute pancreatitis so ill that Mr. Comey was made acting attorney general.
As he was driven home from work one night Mr. Comey received an urgent message: Messrs. Card and Gonzales were en route to Mr. Ashcrofts hospital room to do an end run" around Mr. Comey. Flashing lights blazing his SUV moving as if on a NASCAR track" Mr. Comey raced to the hospital.
His vehicle screeched to a stop." He jumped out and ran up the stairs... relieved" to arrive ahead of both Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales. He took a seat in the darkened room just to the right of Ashcrofts bed" and waited for the presidents agents to arrive.
When they did Messrs. Card and Gonzales were shocked to find the attorney general so ill. Mr. Gonzales explained theyd come seeking Stellar Winds reauthorization and Mr. Comey reports willing to work to fix any legal issues."
Mr. Ashcroft momentarily recovered delivered a rapid-fire blast" claiming he had been misled" about Stellar Winds scope and had serious concerns about the legal basis for parts" of it. The two White House officials beat a hasty retreat. (The program was soon reauthorized with agreed upon changes.)
I felt like crying" Mr. Comey reports. The law had held."
