Not only have Republicans utterly reversed themselves about the importance of truth telling, they’ve also leaned in.
Every Republican remembers with disgust the video of Bill Clinton glowering into the camera and declaring: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false.”
It’s worth revisiting why that statement was so infuriating. It wasn’t because we — well, let me speak for myself, I — was outraged at the idea of a president having an affair with a young intern (though that was part of it). No, it was the lying. Clinton lied and lied and lied. He even lied under oath. Lying is cheating. Lying displays contempt for other people.
Today, the attorney general of the United States asserts, in terms that should make Clinton smile, that because the president of the United States was “frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks,” he could not be considered guilty of obstruction of justice.
Other Republicans echo this line, arguing that the nature of the false allegations against President Donald Trump expressed in the press and among some Democrats — that he was a Russian sleeper agent; that the Russians had “kompromat” on him; that some accusations arose from Clinton surrogates — tainted the entire investigation and justified his flamboyant attempts to obstruct it.
But the fact that some allegations are outlandish doesn’t mean all allegations are false. Clinton was accused of running illegal drugs through the Mena Airport in Arkansas and being complicit in the death of Vince Foster.
