GOP Sen. James Risch spent the entirety of his time Thursday during former FBI director James Comey's testimony trying to exonerate Donald Trump of an obstruction of justice charge. Now just let that sink in for a second.
Okay, then—Risch argued that when Trump brought up the FBI’s investigation of Michael Flynn and told Comey, "I hope you can let this go,” it was just a whimsical wish rather than a menacing order made under threat of dismissal. “He did not direct you to ‘let it go,’” Risch concluded. Right. So you've been cornered into having a private meeting with your boss, the most powerful person in the world, and he tells you he wants you to stay on in your position and, oh, by the by, he "hopes" you'll end your investigation into that "good guy" Mike Flynn—that wasn't meant to intimidate or give you pause in any way.
Risch’s argument doesn’t even come close to passing the smell test (B.S. never does). Context matters and there's plenty of situations in which "hope" is clearly a threat and the law has indeed viewed it as obstruction of justice. The New York Times’ Adam Liptak came up with one without breaking a sweat.
In context, Comey said, “I took it as a direction.”
That’s because when someone holds your job over your head then says they “hope” you’ll do something, it’s an order.