Every journalist who has ever been to j-school (yours truly included) is told the story of Woodward and Bernstein and how their trust of a source who they kept anonymous for decades ended up bringing down the Nixon administration. Every journalist has dreams of breaking a story that big. So when the New York Times got a source who read them parts of an alleged James Comey memo suggesting that President Donald Trump wanted the probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s Russian ties to stop, they probably didn’t deliberate much before publishing a bombshell which, if true, would severely damage the Trump administration.

2) Both Attorney General Sessions and Vice President Pence were not in attendance when the alleged pressuring occurred, as they had been asked to leave the room.

3) Comey has a reputation in Washington D.C. as a person who documents everything and creates paper trails.

4) Trump fired Comey on May 9th.

Those are the only facts that we can feel confident in right now. Now, here’s what we can assume to be true – but have no proof of as of yet:
1) This Comey memo detailing the meeting between himself and Trump actually does exist. Remember, no one has actually seen this memo – the New York Times had it “read to them” by someone who either had possession of it, or who had seen it. It’s definitely shaky journalism, and any j-school graduate would know better.

So basically, someone Comey knows read a memo written by Comey to a Times reporter. This. Is. Not. Journalism. https://t.co/aUj3qOmwnc

— Tim Pool (@Timcast) May 17, 2017

The excuse will be, of course, that this was just too big to ignore. But the NYT has staked its reputation on this memo actually saying what they reported. It’s a huge risk.

2) During his testimony last week, Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said that there was no interference in their current investigation into the Trump campaign connections to Russia. One would have to assume that the investigation of Flynn is deeply tied to that investigation.

Did Comey not tell McCabe what Trump had once said? Is this memo leaking Comey getting some revenge on Trump?

3) Everyone knows Trump says – and tweets – totally dumb off-the-cuff comments. This leads into the problem of context. Do I believe that Trump said what is supposedly quoted by the memo?

“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Comey, according to the memo. “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

Now, the left is screaming “impeachment” and “obstruction of justice” over this line. The problem is that no one but Trump and Comey know the context of this comment. Did Trump say it menacingly (a “let it go, OR ELSE” tone), or resignedly (a “he’s a nice guy and I wish this wasn’t happening to him” tone)? We don’t know. And nothing short of an actual audio recording (which might actually exist, given the features that have existed in the Oval Office up to the Obama administration, apparently) will clear this up.

What is important to note, of course, is that Comey, by the report of the memo (and remember, no one has seen the memo yet), was evasive in the moment and basically ignored Trump. He then continued on as FBI director until his firing on May 9th. You make the call as to whether or not Comey’s behavior after this comment by Trump actually rose to the level of obstruction if the FBI Director ignored this comment or request, save the creation of a paper trail to be used at Comey’s discretion.

Source close to Comey on why he didn't report to Congress about that convo w/Trump in which he asked him to stop the Flynn investigation:
1/

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 16, 2017

“Because it wasn’t a very successful effort and he thought he’d pushed back on it. ..
2/

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 16, 2017

"He was very sensitive to how difficult this was going to be to work with this president; he also thought he could do it.”
3/

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 16, 2017

This memo will be coming out, either by Comey just releasing it outright or it being subpoenaed by Congress. Honestly, unless there is more proof that there was real action behind these alleged comments by Trump, it will end up being another media wild goose chase that damaged everyone – Trump, Comey, and the media’s credibility. Yes, it adds to the narrative that Trump is incompetent and underprepared and that his initial choices for political roles didn’t help him. But the Democrats aren’t helping by screaming “impeachment” like the boy who cried wolf. And the media’s glee over having some really juicy dirt to keep throwing undermines every claim of their impartiality. After all, we never saw this narrative when Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton just “happened” to run into each other on a tarmac.

President Trump, if you are listening – stop using Twitter, demand that your administration fully cooperate with the FBI regarding the Russian investigation to get it finished immediately (and before there are any more election cycles), and start creating paper trails of your own. It’s well past time to stop falling into holes that you’ve allowed to be dug for you.