Chilling parallels between Nixon's Watergate and Trump's Russiagate
“James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! 12th May, 2017” - was this the “third rate” tweet from @realdonaldtrump which may have triggered the fall of the Donald Trump administration - holding out a "threat" to James Comey, the FBI chief who was fired by the US president on May 9, 2017.
James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
Was he being told to clamp up? It reminded one of the "third rate burglary" comment from the White House on June 17, 1972, during the Richard Nixon era - in the wake of the break-in by five plumbers into the Democratic National Centre in the Watergate building to plant bugs for surveillance of Nixon’s opponents prior to the November 1972 presidential elections for his second term.
On the morning of June 17, a Saturday, Bob Woodward, then a cub reporter with Washington Post, was asked to attend a hearing in the court of judge Sirica when the five burglars were produced, upon arrest by the police. An innocuous hearing, he thought.
When judge Sirica asked the lead burglar, James McGord, where he worked, he responded with a hissing C... I... A. That rang a bell and Woodward was in business for the greatest investigative reporting in the history of journalism in the free world, which brought down Nixon on August 8, 1974, unable to complete his second term.
There are chilling parallels between the Nixonian Watergate times and the present Trumpian Russiangate (not yet "gated" but well on its way). The break-in at 2 am in 1972 was commented upon by the White House as "third rate burglary", and that was a comment which opened up a million questions that a cover-up was well under way.
It was this loose comment from the White House which ultimately proved to be the undoing of the Nixon reign. Would the "third rate" Trump tweet be of the same genre? Time alone will tell.
Even during his campaign, Trump built upon lies and called the mainstream media (MSM) - which he hates to his guts - fake news. Just as Trump has branded the MSM as "enemy of the people", the Nixon administration branded the MSM as "shoddy" or "shabby" journalism and was not beyond bugging the journalists. Both presidents hated the independent media as anathema.
Just as Nixon's cover-up of the FBI investigation of the Watergate break-in was the issue which led to his impeachment, it could be Trump's act to trump the FBI investigation into his Russian connections that could spell his doom.
Nixon’s Attorney General had already appointed a special prosecutor in Archibald Cox to conduct the Watergate investigation and it was this prosecutor that Nixon wanted fired by Elliot Richardson, his Attorney General, who chose to resign.
Then the Deputy Attorney General William Rucklehaus also refused and resigned. Then Nixon caught hold of an assistant in Bork to do the dirty work and the firing of Cox got christened as Saturday Night Massacre.
Now, on this occasion, admittedly Trump got a memo from his deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, which was willingly approved by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire Comey. The official line, initially, was that it was the Rosenstein memo that was "acted upon".
But Trump went on air and confirmed that "it was my decision and regardless of the recommendation I had decided to fire Comey", lest Rosenstein demur in public or even resign. And significantly, Trump not only blurted out that the Russia investigation was a "hoax" was the provocation, he chose to record it in writing in his letter to Comey, as if the FBI chief had admitted on "three separate occasions" that the FBI was not investigating Trump. It is in the wake of this scenario that the "third rate" tweet needs to be juxtaposed.
As the Nixon administration chose to sacrifice its officials as "scapegoats" - and the duo of Woodward and Bernstein caught hold of Deep Throat (revealed after 30 years to be Mark Felt, second in command at FBI) who advised them to "follow the money", WA.PO was full of startling stories.
The famous phone call that Bernstein made to Attorney General John Mitchell and his expletive laced response - on the money trail to finance the dubious bugging operations - got printed thanks to the dogged and steadfast adherence to the pursuit of "best attainable version of truth", as the Ben Bradlee (executive editor), Ms Graham (publisher), Woodward and Bernstein team called it. The media needs to be dogged this time too.
Several officials in the Trump campaign had Russia contacts, his own corporate/tax attorney has a boastful claim of a Russia office, Russia lawyer award and specialising on the issue of "sanctions", Trump’s tax filings contain no Russia earnings except a "few exceptions" - stunning claims, which require to be investigated by the FBI with the "follow the money" advice of Deep Throat.
No wonder 78 per cent of Americans now want an independent investigator to go into Russiagate. We are waiting with bated breath for a John Dean-White House counsel - who ditched the Nixon bandwagon and came clean before the Senate on the "criminal" acts of the administration.
Of course, it was the admission of Alexander Butterfield in the Watergate hearings that “I was aware of the installation of listening devices at the Oval Office” as went on record that there were such recordings going on as a matter of policy since 1970, that nailed Nixon.
Now, has the "third rate" tweet from Trump played the Butterfield role? The Wall Street Journal reports that five White House officials confirm that Trump did indulge in "taping" that had been abandoned after the Nixon departure in 1974. Astonishing parallel.
It was the Smoking Gun Tape disclosure that nailed Nixon. The issue had to go up to the Supreme Court before he complied with the order to submit the tapes. Even then 10 crucial tapes handed over had a critical 18.5 minute silence - which obligingly even Nixon’s secretary Rosemary Woods’ typed notes had gone as "accidentally missing".
Yet, Nixon carried on with his bluster in January 1974 - “It was time for the Watergate inquiry to stop and stop once and for all, so that we may focus on what the Americans elected me as President for” - much the same what Trump has been tweeting, that the Russia inquiry was a hoax and it needed to stop. So he fired Comey?
Times have changed. It was the Senate which in a bipartisan vote of 77-0 agreed for a Senate investigation and then judiciary committee said Aye for impeachment proceedings against Nixon. Nixon’s bluff and bluster were called by Barry Goldwater - a true blue Republican who marched to the White House and Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974. Who would it be this time?
Remember the parting speech of Nixon from the East Room of the White House on August 9, 1974. “Those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. Then you destroy yourself.” It was HATE which was a consuming passion with Nixon from the end of his first term against anti-Vietnam protesters – leading to his raging animosity against the Democrats and all those who were critical of Nixon's administration.
So it seems with Trump - just watch and hear his snake poem et al and reported "delusionary swearing", including against the idiot box reporting on his shenanigans.
But even three years after resigning, Nixon was still bull-headed enough to refuse to apologise in the famous interview with BBC’s Sir David Frost - despite repeating promptings - and Nixon ultimately took the rage in his heart and mind to his grave too.
If Watergate was Nixon’s Waterloo for his obstruction of justice, starting with the cover up of the break-in as "third rate burglary", would Russiagate be Trump’s – beginning with his "third rate" tweet? The parallels are too stunning to ignore.