All the President’s Lies

David Leonhardt: “The ninth week of Donald Trump’s presidency began with the F.B.I. director calling him a liar.”

“The director, the very complicated James Comey, didn’t use the L-word in his congressional testimony Monday. Comey serves at the pleasure of the president, after all. But his meaning was clear as could be. Trump has repeatedly accused Barack Obama of wiretapping his phones, and Comey explained there is ‘no information that supports’ the claim.”

“I’ve previously argued that not every untruth deserves to be branded with the L-word, because it implies intent and somebody can state an untruth without doing so knowingly… But the current president of the United States lies. He lies in ways that no American politician ever has before.”