This confidence suggests that he has nothing to hide. But this kind of testimony is always perilous.
Imagine that you are being investigated by the F.B.I. for something that you didn’t do. You are as innocent as Adam before the Fall. In your testimony, you told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
But what you said did not jibe with what two other witnesses told the FBI. Maybe they were not being as truthful as you were. Or, more likely, you spoke from your sphere of knowledge, but you did not know the whole story, so that you said something mistaken.
FBI: “Do you know Boris Badenov?”
YOU: “No. I’ve never heard of him.”
FBI: “Have you ever met him?”
YOU: “No.”
But the FBI has a photograph of you and Boris shaking hands. You meet lots of people and shake a lot of hands, but you don’t remember their names and don’t know who they all are. Now the FBI has caught you lying, under oath, in a federal investigation. You have committed a felony. Your testimony might include several misstatements like this. Each count of false statement in a federal investigation could earn you five years in prison.
When you walked into the interrogation room, the FBI had nothing on you. You were innocent of all of the charges that they were investigating. But after your testimony, you are a criminal, and the FBI can prove it.
Now imagine that you are being investigated and that you are innocent. But that you have a problem of being careless with your words. You have a habit of saying whatever is on your mind, regardless of the consequences. Your ego is such that you can’t take criticism, so that you lash out at any slight. And you regularly toss out statements that tie fact checkers up in knots.
Already in this investigation, the Special Counsel has indicted Trump advisors Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort for making false statements to the FBI.
Perhaps they were not so innocent as you are, in our hypothetical cases, but the point is, this is an easy way to get indictments, even when there is no evidence of any other crimes. And that Mueller is fond of this approach means that President Trump needs to be uncharacteristically careful about what he says.
There could be “no collusion whatsoever” and “no obstruction whatsoever,” but if the president’s testimony does not accord with what the FBI already has, he could be charged with a crime that could be grounds for impeachment.
Photo: FBI interrogation of Ariel Castro, by FBI [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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