GOP sticks with a president they say is ‘new at this’

WASHINGTON – Almost as striking as James Comey’s testimony Thursday was the eagerness of many Republicans to stand with President Donald Trump, dismissing his private behavior as rookie mistakes of a wealthy businessman learning on the job.

While Democrats drew bright lines in Comey’s testimony of evidence mounting against Trump’s questionable actions at the White House, Republicans saw a version of events that relieved the president of any wrongdoing.

House Speaker Paul Ryan set the tone early – “the president’s new at this; he’s new to government” – and others quickly joined his explanations.

When pressed whether he was comfortable with Trump’s actions with the fired FBI director, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said, “It’s not altogether surprising.

“This president is not a conventional officeholder,“ said Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.

Republicans have been wary – at least publicly – of crossing Trump or sowing party divisions. They appeared to trust Trump’s version of events as much as those from Comey, who testified under oath at the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Many Republicans believe Trump was vindicated by Comey’s appearance, since the former FBI director confirmed he had told the president that he was not personally under investigation in connection with Russian interference in the election – even though the probe continues now with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and appears to have expanded to include Trump’s possible efforts to interfere.

“His testimony verified a lot of what the president has said and I think was generally more helpful to the president than not, but we’re not through with this by any means,“ said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a member of the Intelligence Committee.

As for the discrepancy between Comey’s sworn testimony and Trump’s lawyer’s assertion that the president did not seek Comey’s “loyalty” or ask to do away with the FBI’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, some Republicans dismissed it as he-said-he-said.

“What I’m saying is that even if those conversations occurred, however each man sees them in retrospect, doesn’t mean that the other one is wrong,” Blunt said. “And it doesn’t mean that there’s any reason in those conversations that you should automatically think the president somehow can’t do his job.”

A few Republicans, though, appear publicly pained as the investigation continues, fearing a continued drip-drip of revelations that already are distracting from the GOP majority’s agenda in Congress.

“The whole thing is unsettling,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

“That’s why we’re in a full-fledged scandal, as I told you weeks ago. That’s why we need a select committee,” said McCain, whose calls with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for a 9/11-style panel have been rejected by GOP leaders.

“It will happen sooner or later because there will be more shoes to drop,” McCain said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said of Thursday’s hearing: “In the court of public opinion, it probably hurt Trump some. Legally, it reinforced what I’ve always believed – that he’s not under investigation for collusion – yet – with the Russians.”

Asked about Ryan’s assertion that Trump is just new on the job, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said: “I’ll let Speaker Ryan speak for himself.”

For Democrats, meanwhile, the choice between Comey and Trump was easily apparent as they pushed to understand the scope of Russian interference in the election.

“He spoke, I think, from the heart,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said he believed Comey was more trustworthy.

“The whole Russian travesty was diminished by President Trump from the start, and I think what Comey’s trying to do is breathe life back into it. And he should.”