Bush ethics lawyer: Trump's Russia scandal so far is "much worse" than the early stages of Watergate

[Doodley]

Richard Painter
The facts now in this investigation are much worse than the facts in the early stages of Watergate, which was a simple break-in ordered by midlevel campaign officials — not by the president. Here we have facts that are much worse: We have a foreign power that has orchestrated a break-in. It’s a much worse situation than the outset of Watergate.

Tara Golshan
What have you made of the White House’s response to this? You were the ethics lawyer under the Bush administration — are they following the guidance you would have given in this situation?

Richard Painter
I don’t see much of a response. They are blowing it off. It’s very clear President Trump needs to immediately find out who in his campaign had any communications with the Russians about anything. Find out what those communications were to the best of his ability and find out who in the administration knew what the Russians were doing. He needs to support a thorough inquiry, not a cover-up — that is the mistake Nixon made with Watergate.

Their public comments have been atrocious so far. They keep accusing CNN of fake news; then the spokesperson for the Kremlin accuses CNN of fake news. What we are seeing is the White House putting themselves on the same page as the Kremlin, when they [the Russians] have been spying on the United States and attacked our democratic system in 2016. That is a terrible posture they are in.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/2/14791108/bush-ethics-lawyer-trumps-russia-scandal

[lapfog_1]

1. Watergate was campaign dirty tricks turned criminal

and the attempt by the President to cover it up.

Yes, Nixon used some Cuban exiles to break into the DNC headquarters to dig up dirt on democrats.

Trump used a hostile state government to do the same thing (in cyber space). That's TREASON!