“Rarely has an intelligence apparatus engaged in systematic lying—and chronic deceit about its lying—both during and even after its tenure,” writes Victor Davis Hanson.

“Yet the Obama administration’s four top security and intelligence officials time and again engaged in untruth, as if peddling lies was part of their job descriptions.”

In his column “A lying quartet,” Dr. Hanson indicts Susan Rice, James Comey, John Brennan and James Clapper for lying in high office above and beyond the call of partisan duty.

Dr. Hanson hits the high points of the “series of whoppers” retailed to the American public by this deeply unsavory crew.

I particularly appreciate his reaching back to recall Mr. Brennan’s farcical reassurance that jihad was “a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one’s community.”

Dr. Hanson responds: “Tell that to the incinerated victims of self-proclaimed jihadist Mohammed Atta or those beheaded by ISIS.”

Yes, if only Hillary Clinton had prevailed over Donald Trump, Mr. Brennan would be in position to vouch for the bona fides of Hamas and Hezbollah in their quest for self-improvement.

Dr. Hanson optimistically asserts that these patronizing liars have been “orphaned and discredited.”

Yet they are still called on to pass judgment on the Trump administration as though they speak with Olympian detachment. Nevertheless, writing from his background as a classicist and military historian, Dr. Hanson delivers the kind of catharsis that Aristotle found in Greek tragedy.

Mr. Johnson may be contacted at www.powerlineblog.com