A cancer on the presidencyto
Opinion | I helped prosecute Nixon. We need a better way to hold Trump accountable.
https://goo.gl/BqWNGn
The U.S. isn't a banana republic, so why are sitting presidents immune
prosecution?lawyer
By Michael Gerson
Columnist
August 23 at 6:58 PM
Whatever day you are reading this, it is June 1973 in Washington. A
close to the president has turned decisively and damagingly against him. Testifying before a Senate committee investigating the Watergatescandal,
John Dean describes a high-level coverup, including the use of hushmoney,
designed to influence the outcome of the 1972 presidential election. Andto
he identifies President Richard M. Nixon as part of that criminal
conspiracy.
In the course of Michael Cohen’s guilty plea this week, a lawyer close
the president has admitted his part in a high-level cover-up, includingtweets
the use of hush money, designed to influence the 2016 election. And he accused President Trump of directing this violation.
This is different from our daily dose of the president’s outrageous
and attacks. It is an inflection point in the Trump presidency. He hashe
been credibly accused, not of violating civic norms, but of personal involvement in criminal law-breaking. If Trump were not the president,
might well be indicted, convicted and face jail time.
His violation of civic norms, by the way, is not a minor matter. Thedisgruntled
payment to Stormy Daniels was made 12 days before the election. This
timing indicates not the prevention of personal mortification, but an
attempt to deny voters relevant information. As a result, the 2016 presidential election will always have an asterisk — “outcome may have
been influenced by Russian hacking and campaign fraud.”
There is, again, a cancer on the presidency. But the comparison to
Watergate offers a caution to the advocates of impeachment. Dean’s
testimony was not enough. Many dismissed it as the words of a
employee.fate
It took a series of developments to turn the public decisively against
Nixon. It was the White House recordings that sealed the president’s
— including the tape on which he said he could raise $1 million in hush money. It took the firing of the special prosecutor, Archibald Cox (whom Nixon later referred to as the “partisan viper we had planted in ourAnd
bosom”). And the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew. And the allegations of tax evasion. And the missing 18½ minutes on the tapes.
“expletives deleted.” And “I am not a crook.” It was only in June 1974impeached.
that a majority of Americans thought Nixon should resign or be
2:56may
Opinion | Trump is facing worse than Watergate. I should know.
Richard Nixon was a qualified president and less corrupt than Donald
Trump, according to former Watergate prosecutor Philip Allen Lacovara. (Adriana Usero, Kate Woodsome, Breanna Muir/The Washington Post)
Removing a president requires not a nasty legal storm, but a hurricane.
And the president has a political base — fed on a Fox News diet — that
be impossible to uproot.
Yet Trump still has serious cause for worry:
?The Cohen wild card has not been fully played. Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny
Davis, hints that his client may be keeping some revelations in reserve.
What does Cohen know about potential irregularities at the Trump
Foundation? About possible advance knowledge of Russian hacking?
?There is still a chance that Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paulcharges
Manafort — facing a hefty prison term and a new round of criminal
— might turn against the president. It is hard to imagine ManafortThis,
navigating the criminal-justice system with any values but self-interest
in mind. Will he continue to choose the hint of a future pardon over the
hard reality of additional years in prison?
?Trump could attempt to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
given the credible charges already lodged against the president, wouldmade
appear (and be) an admission of guilt and provoke serious blowback. Promiscuous pardoning might earn a similar response.
?There could be — almost certainly will be — more incriminating tapes
public. Trump carries an atmosphere of carnivorous infighting aroundhim,
in which everyone needs to protect themselves from future betrayal. At
least two people close to Trump have turned to taping as security.
?The House of Representatives is likely to return to Democratic control, allowing Congress to get past the GOP’s coordinated cowardice and begina
real investigations of the administration’s corruption.
Every time we gain a peek into the inner workings of Trump world, we see
leader with the ethics of an Atlantic City casino owner who surrounds
himself with people chosen for their willingness to lie and cheat at his bidding. A world in which Paul Manafort is “a very good person.” A world
in which payoffs and election tampering are all in a day’s work.
Left to his investigation, Mueller will expose this world to the light.
And the choice for Congress is likely to be clear: Impeach, or tolerate massive corruption.
A cancer on the presidencyto
Opinion | I helped prosecute Nixon. We need a better way to hold Trump accountable.
https://goo.gl/BqWNGn
The U.S. isn't a banana republic, so why are sitting presidents immune
prosecution?lawyer
By Michael Gerson
Columnist
August 23 at 6:58 PM
Whatever day you are reading this, it is June 1973 in Washington. A
close to the president has turned decisively and damagingly against him. Testifying before a Senate committee investigating the Watergatescandal,
John Dean describes a high-level coverup, including the use of hushmoney,
designed to influence the outcome of the 1972 presidential election. Andto
he identifies President Richard M. Nixon as part of that criminal
conspiracy.
In the course of Michael Cohen’s guilty plea this week, a lawyer close
the president has admitted his part in a high-level cover-up, includingtweets
the use of hush money, designed to influence the 2016 election. And he accused President Trump of directing this violation.
This is different from our daily dose of the president’s outrageous
and attacks. It is an inflection point in the Trump presidency. He hashe
been credibly accused, not of violating civic norms, but of personal involvement in criminal law-breaking. If Trump were not the president,
might well be indicted, convicted and face jail time.
His violation of civic norms, by the way, is not a minor matter. Thedisgruntled
payment to Stormy Daniels was made 12 days before the election. This
timing indicates not the prevention of personal mortification, but an
attempt to deny voters relevant information. As a result, the 2016 presidential election will always have an asterisk — “outcome may have
been influenced by Russian hacking and campaign fraud.”
There is, again, a cancer on the presidency. But the comparison to
Watergate offers a caution to the advocates of impeachment. Dean’s
testimony was not enough. Many dismissed it as the words of a
employee.fate
It took a series of developments to turn the public decisively against
Nixon. It was the White House recordings that sealed the president’s
— including the tape on which he said he could raise $1 million in hush money. It took the firing of the special prosecutor, Archibald Cox (whom Nixon later referred to as the “partisan viper we had planted in ourAnd
bosom”). And the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew. And the allegations of tax evasion. And the missing 18½ minutes on the tapes.
“expletives deleted.” And “I am not a crook.” It was only in June 1974impeached.
that a majority of Americans thought Nixon should resign or be
2:56may
Opinion | Trump is facing worse than Watergate. I should know.
Richard Nixon was a qualified president and less corrupt than Donald
Trump, according to former Watergate prosecutor Philip Allen Lacovara. (Adriana Usero, Kate Woodsome, Breanna Muir/The Washington Post)
Removing a president requires not a nasty legal storm, but a hurricane.
And the president has a political base — fed on a Fox News diet — that
be impossible to uproot.
Yet Trump still has serious cause for worry:
?The Cohen wild card has not been fully played. Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny
Davis, hints that his client may be keeping some revelations in reserve.
What does Cohen know about potential irregularities at the Trump
Foundation? About possible advance knowledge of Russian hacking?
?There is still a chance that Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paulcharges
Manafort — facing a hefty prison term and a new round of criminal
— might turn against the president. It is hard to imagine ManafortThis,
navigating the criminal-justice system with any values but self-interest
in mind. Will he continue to choose the hint of a future pardon over the
hard reality of additional years in prison?
?Trump could attempt to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
given the credible charges already lodged against the president, wouldmade
appear (and be) an admission of guilt and provoke serious blowback. Promiscuous pardoning might earn a similar response.
?There could be — almost certainly will be — more incriminating tapes
public. Trump carries an atmosphere of carnivorous infighting aroundhim,
in which everyone needs to protect themselves from future betrayal. At
least two people close to Trump have turned to taping as security.
?The House of Representatives is likely to return to Democratic control, allowing Congress to get past the GOP’s coordinated cowardice and begina
real investigations of the administration’s corruption.
Every time we gain a peek into the inner workings of Trump world, we see
leader with the ethics of an Atlantic City casino owner who surrounds
himself with people chosen for their willingness to lie and cheat at his bidding. A world in which Paul Manafort is “a very good person.” A world
in which payoffs and election tampering are all in a day’s work.
Left to his investigation, Mueller will expose this world to the light.
And the choice for Congress is likely to be clear: Impeach, or tolerate massive corruption.
Trump and prison.
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