Carl Bernstein Compares NYT Bombshell on Trump to Richard Nixon’s ‘Articles of Impeachment’
Veteran Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein responded to the New York Times report on President Donald Trump inquiring about the Justice Department’s investigation into Hillary Clinton by comparing it to the articles impeachment used against Richard Nixon amid the Watergate scandal. Bernstein, of course, broke that scandal, along with partner Bob Woodward.
“There are no excuses, and this is a defining moment in the history of the Trump presidency, because this is a demonstration of his unfitness to be president of the United States, of his abuse of presidential power, of his embrace of authoritarianism,” Bernstein said while on CNN tonight. “It’s going to get the attention of some — not all — in Congress. We are watching a president of the United States undermine the very principles of our democracy, the president of the United States swears.”
He continued:
“Today, I read the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon. Everybody should read Article 2 and how similar it is to what we’ve seen Trump do here, but the president takes an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States to uphold it and to protect it. This president daily abuses it, but never have we seen such flouting of willingness to abuse the Constitution and the powers of the presidency as we are now seeing and what we’re learning from Maggie Haberman’s story.”
Bernstein added that the New York Times story will “figure in the Mueller investigation” and “investigations on the Hill.”
“This is a moment that we’re going to look back on and say, ah, that’s perhaps when the message got across in Washington that this president has crossed lines that must be noted,” he added.
According to the Times, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Matt Whitaker — a chief-of-staff for Jeff Sessions at the time — were asked by the president over a year into his presidency about investigating Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey, per sources who spoke to Maggie Haberman.
Watch above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
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