In the movie Liar Liar, Jim Carrey played Fletcher Reede, a successful lawyer who will lie without reservation to win a case.  To his dismay, his son, who simply wanted his father's attention, makes a birthday wish that his father will be unable to tell a lie for one whole day.  His wish comes true, and Fletcher is unable to tell a lie for 24 hours.

While Liar Liar is only a movie, the American people need a Fletcher Reede moment.  We have had enough lies, cover-ups, conspiracies, fraud, and concealment by some in Congress, the FBI, the Justice Department, and the media.  We want honesty, transparency, and reporting based on relevant facts.  For example, we expect transparency and honesty regarding the following issues and claims (this list is by no means exhaustive):

1. President Trump colluded with the Russians.  To date, there is no evidence whatsoever of any collusion.
2. We don't know who paid for the Steele dossier.  All the evidence suggests that the Steele dossier was financed by groups opposed to President Trump and/or the DNC.  James Comey knew about this and failed to disclose it to President Trump until after President Trump was elected.
3. James Comey and the FBI thoroughly investigated the email server scandal before deciding that no further action was necessary.  In actuality, Mr. Comey's true motivation relative to the email scandal was set forth in his recent book, where he stated: "Assuming, as nearly everyone did, that Hillary Clinton would be elected president of the United States in less than two weeks, what would happen to the FBI, the Justice Department, or her own presidency if it later was revealed, after the fact, that she was still the subject of an FBI investigation?"  It is possible, Comey acknowledges, that "my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls."
4. James Comey never leaked any classified information as the memos contained redactions and notes indicating that certain information was classified.  Based on Mr. Comey's own testimony, this does not appear to be true.  "Yet while testifying before Congress last June, Comey admitted that he gave some of the memos to a friend, with the instructions to leak it to a reporter in order to force a special counsel to be appointed.  In other words, Comey may have leaked classified information to a friend in order to facilitate news coverage in his favor and instigate an endless internal investigation of the Trump administration."

The fact that Liar Liar involved a lawyer is ironic.  One of the most important things that litigators and trial lawyers tell their clients is to always tell the truth.  Aside from the obvious ethical rules behind this instruction, the reason they instruct their clients to tell the truth is because telling one lie usually has a domino effect, where additional lies normally follow.  Eventually, the lies pile up so high that the liar can't keep track of all of his lies.  After all, it is much easier to remember the truth than it is to remember a bunch of "non-truths."

Perhaps an example will explain how this works in practice.  Many years ago, a group of five people alleged that they were involved in a car accident.  They claimed that they were all in the same vehicle when it was violently struck by another vehicle.  As is typically the case, the five individuals were deposed to obtain their renditions of how the accident happened, etc.  The depositions were scheduled one after the other so they could not coach one another.  Amazingly, these five individuals provided five completely different renditions of how the accident had happened, although they were all allegedly in the same vehicle.  They simply could not keep their lies straight, and it cost them, big time!

With the recent inspector general's referral regarding former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, and the demand by several GOP lawmakers for prosecutors to consider bringing charges against several people relating to the email scandal, the domino effect has started. Whether or not prosecutors decide to pursue charges is yet to be determined.

Regardless of what prosecutors decide to do, one thing is certain.  The American public deserves the truth, just like the little boy in the movie!

Mr. Hakim is a lawyer focusing on civil and commercial litigation.