I Witnessed Nixon's Downfalland I've Got a Warning for Trump [View all]
RICHARD BEN-VENISTE
JUN 23, 2017
... I’m reminded of .. Marx’s .. observation: “History repeats itself: first as tragedy, second as farce.” I was a .. witness to .. Nixon’s .. downfall as president, and I’ve .. contemplated whether a repeat of his “Saturday Night Massacre” may .. be in the offing ... Trump would do well to .. avoid his presidency’s descent into a quasi-Watergate parody ...
... Although Nixon ordered the special prosecutor’s office abolished and commanded the FBI to seize our office and files, we remained employed by the Justice Department. Homeless, leaderless, and dazed .. we brushed ourselves off and vowed to continue our work in whatever capacity we could.
It was only a matter of days .. until .. public and congressional outrage .. forced Nixon to reverse course and promise to obey court orders ... We returned to our office and were reunited with our files, and a new special prosecutor .. was .. appointed to lead the .. inquiry. Amid all the furor .. the public correctly asked .. “What was Nixon hiding?” The answer was not long in coming: a lot. The tapes proved Nixon was not only a liar, but also an early leader of a plot to obstruct the investigation of .. the DNC break-in ...
The question is not whether Trump can fire Mueller — it is whether it would be a misuse of executive power for him to do so. Should Trump let Mueller go, it would spark a constitutional crisis the likes of which the country has not seen in four decades. The business of Congress would grind to a halt and the stock market would suffer a shock. With Comey’s dismissal as the backdrop, there could be an immediate resolution introduced in the House for Trump’s impeachment for attempting to obstruct a lawful, ongoing criminal investigation ...
http://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article157755749.html
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