Those of us who are old enough to recall Watergate know that “the smoking gun” tape that ultimately sealed Richard Nixon’s political fate was of this conversation with White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman on June 23, 1972:
Nixon: When you get in these people when you…get these people in, say: “Look, the problem is that this will open the whole, the whole Bay of Pigs thing, and the President just feels that” ah, without going into the details… don’t, don’t lie to them to the extent to say there is no involvement, but just say this is sort of a comedy of errors, bizarre, without getting into it, “the President believes that it is going to open the whole Bay of Pigs thing up again. And, ah because these people are plugging for, for keeps and that they should call the FBI in and say that we wish for the country, don’t go any further into this case”, period!
Haldeman: OK.
Nixon: That’s the way to put it, do it straight (Unintelligible)
Six days after the Watergate break-in, Nixon was recorded on tape telling his COS to tell the FBI to not investigate the break-in for “national security” reasons. Nixon knew that this tape was radioactive, which is why he fired Archibald Cox for seeking its production, and it was why he fought producing it all the way to the Supreme Court. This tape was publicly released on August 5, 1974. Nixon announced his resignation 3 days later.
By contrast, as per the Comey Memo, President Trump directly asked following of the FBI Director as to criminal investigation of Michael Flynn:
“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Comey, according to the memo. “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
Trump didn’t ask Reince Preibus to ask the FBI to not investigate Flynn. Trump directly asked the FBI Director to not investigate Flynn. Except for the fact that Trump elected to not use middle men to obstruct justice, the 2 situations are substantively similar.
Richard Nixon was forced from office for several reasons, but his being recorded on tape committing a high crime in the Oval Office removed any last lingering doubts as to his continued fitness for office. We now have a president who is memorialized in a memorandum as having committed the exact same crime in the exact same venue.
This famous quote is attributed to Twain:
“History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”
In this case, history is much closer to repeating itself than it is to rhyming. Once the “smoking gun” tape was released, there was a broad national consensus that Nixon needed to go. Assuming that the Comey Memorandum is an accurate reflection of their Oval Office meeting, Trump needs to go, too.
Sadly, while the Dems controlled both houses of Congress during Watergate, they control neither house now. That doesn’t change the fact that the party of Ervin, Cox, Rodino, et. al. needs to stand up and be counted now the same way that it stood up and was counted then. If a president can be memorialized committing a high crime in the Oval Office and can survive in office, our experiment in self-government is effectively at an end.