Opinion: ‘Comey said, Trump said’ is no way to run a government. If Trump has tapes, he needs to release them.

To the editor: I have voted in every election since 1972, and I have heard some disturbing things from the campaign trail over the years. What topped everything was “lock her up” in 2016.

After listening to former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, where he actually called President Trump a liar, I have three words of my own: Release the tapes. Assuming they exist (Trump indicated they might in a tweet taunting Comey after he was fired), one of two things would become abundantly clear to the American public upon their release: Either Comey is telling the truth about what the president told him in a private meeting in the Oval Office, or he isn’t.

Running the government on a “Trump said, Comey said” basis won’t get us any closer to the truth about Russia’s involvement in the 2016 campaign. Trump promised to “make American great again,” a slogan that still resonates with millions of his supporters. I’d like to add my own four words going forward: Americans want the truth.

Denny Freidenrich, Laguna Beach

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To the editor: Comey’s performance Thursday did turn up some information worth pursuing.

We found out that he orchestrated the leak of his memorandums of his discussions with the president, and that then-Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch asked him to defuse the investigation of Hillary Clinton and its public presentation.

Meanwhile, liberal legal eagle Alan Dershowitz has written that Trump, who has the authority to pardon former national security advisor Mike Flynn and thereby terminate any criminal proceeding against him, would have been well within his constitutional rights had he ordered Comey to end the investigation of Flynn. Given that, there is no need to get into subjective interpretations of “hope” vs. “directive.”

The Democrats took their best shot Thursday, and they fired blanks. Their nothingburger is on full display, and even their constituents are now telling them to get to the real work for which they were sent to Washington.

Jordan Chodorow, Los Angeles

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To the editor: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Trump’s comments to Comey were a “normal New York City conversation” and that Trump didn’t realize his remarks were inappropriate. So I guess he’s saying Trump didn’t realize New York citizens holding public office were not exempt from the law.

It appears virtually everything Trump says must be reinterpreted by an aide or other shill to be properly understood.

Paul Robinson, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The ethically and morally challenged White House and too many complicit members of Congress are pushing the notion that direct evidence of a president asking the director of the FBI to prematurely end a criminal investigation of a former top advisor doesn’t constitute a “smoking gun” and strong evidence of obstruction of justice.

This is absolutely and totally ridiculous.

Trump may be trying to drag the country into the gutter with his insulting, bullying and sexist behavior, but the bar has not been lowered so far as to obviate the criminal nature of attempting to manipulate the justice system.

Comey’s testimony constitutes solid evidence of an impeachable offense, and eventually we’ll have a House with a working moral compass that will put the rule of law and the good of the country above partisanship.

Ray McKown, Los Angeles

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