The Godfather in the White House

                              

     The prepared testimony former FBI Director James Comey provided to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence ahead of his hearing today is an altogether remarkable document. It confirms much of the scandalous and anonymously sourced reporting that emerged from Donald Trump's abrupt dismissal of Comey, and it reveals a president who is thoroughly consumed by the scandals plaguing his still-young administration.
 But more importantly, it portrays a sitting president of the United States who conducts business like a sort of low-rent mafioso.

According to Comey's narrative, President Trump invited him to a private dinner shortly after the inauguration, where Trump asked Comey if he wanted to remain FBI director. After Comey said he intended to stay, Trump purportedly told him: "I need loyalty. I expect loyalty."

 At their next one-on-one meeting, held in the Oval Office the day after Trump fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Trump allegedly pressured Comey to drop the FBI's investigation into Flynn. 

"He is a good guy and has been through a lot," Trump said, per Comey's testimony. "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go."

A month later, Trump phoned Comey to talk about the FBI's investigation into Russian hacking of the 2016 election, calling it a "cloud" over his presidency and asking what Comey could do to "lift the cloud." One month after that, Trump called Comey again to complain about the "cloud" and he returned to the topic of loyalty. "I have been very loyal to you, very loyal," Comey says Trump told him, adding cryptically: "We had that thing you know." Less than a month after that, Trump fired Comey.

What this tells us is that Trump's view of government is rooted firmly in patronage and profound contempt for the idea that the president is bound by laws.

 Public servants are expected to show fealty to the Constitution, and they take an oath to that effect. Serving under Trump, however, means serving Trump and doing whatever he asks out of fealty and respect.

Comey's testimony sketches out repeated and flagrant abuses of authority by Trump that warrant aggressive investigation. He tried unsuccessfully to get the FBI director in his pocket with poorly disguised threats centering on "loyalty," and then applied pressure on Comey to influence Justice 

Department investigations that were politically troublesome. After Comey withheld his loyalty and refused to meet Trump's demands on Russia and Flynn, he was sacked. (We don't have to guess that Trump fired Comey over the Russia investigation because he said as much on national