Finally, President Trump is legitimate. He has a mandate, there is not a shred of evidence that he violated his constitutional oath, and no crime has come to light.

James Comey explained that Mrs. Clinton was a felon and then said he would not prosecute her. He was a policeman, not a judge or prosecutor. Having tried to ensure her election but having left her open to impeachment proceedings, when the next e-mail enormity arrived, he revealed it — presumably under some pressure from within the Bureau — and then implausibly explained that over 30,000 e-mails that had gone astray had, with astonishing swiftness, been judged immaterial. Given his alacrity in that matter, there is little excuse for him to have dragged his feet over the Trump-Russia issue. He concluded that President Trump is not suspected of wrongdoing in the Russian matters, as Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), no friend of the administration, confirmed. But Mr. Comey declined to reveal publicly the president’s innocence of improprieties with the Russians.

Mr. Comey apparently thought he was a maker and breaker of presidents. J. Edgar Hoover, in 48 years in that position, never publicly revealed anything about investigations until they were handed over to the Justice Department, and rarely even then. The New York Times’s story that Mr. Comey had been denied funding for the Russian investigation was denied by his loyal deputy, and when Mr. Trump implied that he might have recorded some conversations with Mr. Comey, the former director withdrew his agreement to testify before Congress. A Sherlock Holmes is not required to interpret these events.

No one defends Mr. Comey, and few seem now to lament the defeat of Mrs. Clinton.