The things Comey didn’t mention are astonishing when you remember that Trump would take the oath of office in just two weeks. The new commander in chief was deliberately being kept in the dark by the outgoing administration.

So what was Comey up to with that very limited briefing? It’s possible the sole purpose was to mention the prostitutes, then give CNN the story as a way to inject the dossier into the political bloodstream and hope Trump would step aside.

Or perhaps the goal was to monitor how Trump reacted. Recall that the investigation was still secret, Page was still being surveilled and other campaign players, including Flynn, were being picked up “incidentally” on other wiretaps. Maybe Trump was, too.