DO-GOODERS ARE ALWAYS INSUFFERABLE:

Over the course of 19 interviews, I came away with two impressions. One, Comey is indefatigably earnest. I can see how he grates on people. And two, if I were a juror, I'd believe him. He's telling the truth.

In the interviews, Comey gets grilled about physical depictions of Trump in his book--normal-size hands, ill-fitting ties--which come across as unflattering. The complaint is that Comey did this to get back at Trump for firing him. That's a bum rap. Comey is just another policy guy trying, clumsily, to write descriptive prose. The better critique is that Comey is what Trump called him: a showboat. He gives press conferences when he shouldn't, he writes a book, he hawks it with the stamina of a decathlete. I'll grant you all that. But under interrogation, Comey's answers, unlike Trump's, are modest and reflective. His demeanor--eyes, voice, ease of response--shows no hint of dishonesty. Compared with Trump, he's a far more credible witness.

Trump claims to know things he doesn't know. Comey makes no such pretense. When he doesn't know something, he says so. Did people connected to Trump collude with Russia? "I don't know," Comey told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. Does Russia have something on Trump? "I don't know," Comey told USA Today's Susan Page. Was Trump a crooked businessman? "I don't want to talk about things I don't know about," Comey told the New Yorker's David Remnick. Did Trump ask Mike Pompeo, who was then the CIA director, to pressure Comey last year to drop his investigation of Flynn? Comey demurs, saying he didn't witness the conversation. How much Russia evidence remains secret? Comey demurs again, noting that in the year since he was fired, "It's possible things that I 'knew' have changed."

Trump casually attributes bad motives to Comey. Comey doesn't reciprocate. Why won't Trump criticize Russia? "I don't know, and I'm not in a position to speculate," Comey told a CNN town hall. Why did Trump keep telling Comey, when he was FBI director, that Trump hadn't used prostitutes? "No idea," Comey told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. When Trump pardoned former Bush aide Scooter Libby, was that a signal to Trump associates caught up in the Russia investigation? "I don't know," Trump told Page.

Trump attacks everyone connected to Comey. Comey doesn't attack people connected to Trump. In the interviews, Comey rebuffs invitations to speculate about Attorney General Jeff Sessions and pro-Trump FBI agents. He defends Flynn--"Good people do lie, and my sense of Flynn was he was a good guy"--and refuses to criticize Flynn's plea agreement. "I can't see what's on the other side of the wall--that is, what is the evidence, and what's the nature of his cooperation," Comey told NBC's Chuck Todd.

Trump, armed with no evidence, accuses Comey of crimes. Comey, armed with lots of evidence, levels no such charges at Trump. Mueller "may conclude that there is nothing that touches President Trump or any of his senior people," Comey told Stephanopoulos. "And that's fine, so long as he's able to find that truth." 

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