Trump Presidency Is ‘Worse Than Watergate’ Says Carl Bernstein

Just around the time that Donald Trump fired James Comey from his position as head of the FBI, the talk comparing Donald Trump’s administration to that of Richard Nixon picked up. Since that time, after Robert Mueller was appointed as a special prosecutor, those personally familiar with the ins and outs of the Watergate scandal started weighing in about the comparisons, and as time went on, some like Washington Post investigative journalist Carl Bernstein suggested that the Trump presidency was actually “worse than Watergate.”

Mediaite says that beyond Bernstein’s statement that the Trump administration is worse than Watergate, he also added that the NYT‘s report on Trump’s questions about the Justice Department’s possible investigations into Hillary Clinton and James Comey was eerily similar to the articles of impeachment used against the former President Richard Nixon.

Bernstein says that he understands that not everyone is as familiar with the nuances of the Watergate scandal as he is, but he says that there are eery similarities.

“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. 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.”

TIL. Wow. https://t.co/OH09UBVXzr

— LeftWingGuy1066 ? (@LeftWingGuy1066) December 3, 2018

Bernstein says he suggests that anyone who is curious about why the topic of Watergate keeps coming up in reference to Donald Trump should read the articles of impeachment against Richard Milhouse Nixon.

“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 adds that there is no doubt in his mind that the Maggie Haberman investigation for the New York Times will be referenced in Mueller’s case and in other investigations to come. The veteran reporter says that he believes that this will be the ah-hah moment that people in the future refer to when they talk about the tipping point.

“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.”