I’m watching the Comey hearing, but thinking about yesterday’s testimony by DNI Daniel Coats, Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, NSA Director Michael Rogers and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein.

Sorry not to give the direct quote, but here’s a CNN description:

“I am not going to discuss the specifics of interactions that I may or may have not had with the President. ” Rogers said, adding he has never felt pressured to do anything unethical. “I do not recall feeling pressured to do so.”

This mirrored what Coats said, and both of them repeated the gist of this argument several times: this far, but no further.

At first, I took that as a simple non-answer.  Nobody had asked them about their personal feelings, but by re-framing the question that way, they could answer any way they wanted without legal risk.

Later, I realized that it also undercuts their purportedly ethical position.  They’ve already talked directly and specifically about discussions with the President.  After they’ve crossed that line, they can’t say they’re not disclosing conversations.  At most, they’re saying they don’t want to answer that specific question.

I’m sure that if Coats or Rogers could honestly say ‘no’, they’d have said so.  Their selective reticence makes their true answer clear.