Daily Beast: “But there’s an explanation for at least some of the leaks that’s a little more cunning than the rest—one that might bring some actual resolution. Four current and former law enforcement officials believe prosecutors have been treating Trump and his associates like a criminal network, and subjecting them to an array of time-tested law enforcement tricks.”

“One of those tricks involves floating names of potential targets of the investigation, to try and get potential co-conspirators to turn on one another. Another, called ‘tickling the wire,’ entails strategically leaking information to try and provoke targets under surveillance into saying something dumb, or even incriminating.”

Said one former FBI official: “You want people to freak out, to say, ‘are they talking about me? Is this me? What do they know?’—and you want them to do this in a way that is captured. Now we wait for the cover up.”

Michael Grunwald: “There are still plenty of unanswered questions about Russia—including the usual questions about what the president knew and when he knew it—but what’s shocking is how many questions have already been answered. The scandal has already led to the abrupt firing of Trump’s national security adviser. His attorney general and his son-in-law are also under siege for making false statements about their contacts with Russians; his former campaign manager is in legal jeopardy over his own political and financial ties to Russian operatives. And Trump himself keeps saying and tweeting things that would make any defense lawyer cringe, while doing things in his official capacity that make Vladimir Putin smile. It isn’t clear how much, if any, of this behavior has been criminal, but a lot of it is pretty clearly scandalous.”

“The main unanswered question is whether the Republicans who control Congress will do anything about any of it. So far, their response has mostly amounted to ‘Ha! ha! ha!'”

Politico: “Comey revealed in his written testimony that he’s had nine one-on-one conversations with Trump — ‘three in person and six on the phone.’ Yet he goes into detail about only five of those instances.”

“Senators are sure to ask Comey about the other conversations — their substance, their tone and their timing – to see whether they give a fuller picture of Trump’s posture toward his FBI director in those crucial months.”

“Comey says his last interaction with Trump came on April 11, a month before he was fired. If so, what might have transpired in the intervening weeks that led Trump to ax Comey at the moment he did?”

Mike Allen notes that former FBI Directory James Comey uses a word in his Senate testimony “that I suspect will become famous as the investigation unfolds.”

The President went on to say that if there were some “satellite” associates of his who did something wrong, it would be good to find that out, but that he hadn’t done anything wrong and hoped I would find a way to get it out that we weren’t investigating him.

The big question: Who does the Trump think of as “satellites”?

New York Times: How seven Trump associates have been linked to Russia.

Politico: “How long can Trump resist taking to Twitter to bash Comey midhearing? Even his aides can never be sure, and reports suggest Trump is going to be watching Comey’s testimony and prepared to respond.”

“Even if he stays silent, the prospect of a presidential smackdown from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue will hang over the hearing all morning — and possibly become grist for other ongoing investigative efforts.”

Benjamin Wittes: “James Comey’s seven-page written statement, released by the Senate Intelligence Committee this afternoon in connection with Comey’s impending testimony tomorrow, draws no conclusions, makes no allegations, and indeed, expresses no opinions. It recounts, in spare and simple prose, a set of facts to which Comey is prepared to testify under oath tomorrow. Despite this sparseness, or maybe I should say because of it, it is the most shocking single document compiled about the official conduct of the public duties of any President since the release of the Watergate tapes.”

“More than a dozen attorneys and crisis communications specialists have already started working for Trump associates touched by the unfolding Russia scandal, according to a Politico tally. People close to the probes say that number is only expected to grow as more than 20 other senior campaign aides and White House officials begin receiving subpoenas, grand jury summons and other requests from special counsel Robert Mueller as well as congressional committees.”

Politico: “The morning, at least, seemed to go reasonably well for President Trump. He announced a new F.B.I. director, and two intelligence chiefs told Congress the president had never pressured them to interfere in the investigation into Russian election meddling.”

“And then James B. Comey … dropped the hammer. By authorizing the immediate release of the opening statement he plans to give in his much anticipated appearance before a congressional committee on Thursday, he instantly changed the conversation back to his assertion that the president tried to shut down part of the F.B.I. investigation.”

“Mr. Trump may be relatively new to Washington, but Mr. Comey is not. A savvy veteran of the capital who has worked in high positions in multiple administrations, he has usually emerged on top in any internal power struggle. And in the month since his dismissal, Mr. Comey has shown why presidents are normally loath to fire F.B.I. directors.”

Jonathan Swan: “Like Sean Spicer on Tuesday, Sarah Sanders declined Wednesday to say President Trump has confidence in Jeff Sessions. It’s stunning that for two consecutive days, the top White House press people can’t say whether the President has confidence in his Attorney General.”

One possibility: “Trump has decided to publicly humiliate Sessions — leaving him hanging out unsupported for a while — as he did to Bannon and others when he was down on them.”

A new Quinnipiac poll finds President Trump’s job approval rating has dipped to a new low, 34% to 57%.

Washington Post: “If you look at the trend in Quinnipiac’s polling since January, strong approval of the president’s job performance has faded in a number of constituencies — including Republicans and whites without college degrees.”