For as long as there is history, Richard Nixon will be forever remembered for the Watergate scandal. It defined not only his Presidency, it defined his character as well, and even his perception as a man. As the Trump Russia saga has unfolded, the similarities between Trump-Russia and Watergate start to appear more and more like a sequel to a movie that grossed well the first tie, another
Washington scandal blockbuster.
But Watergate was not Nixon's first ride at the rodeo. Nixon had originally wanted his renomination convention held in San Diego, a town he dearly loved. But Nixon was as greedy as Trump. In exchange for a $400,000 donation from a company called ITT, Nixon pulled the rug out from under San Diego, and the convention was held in Miami Beach instead. but , mjch more importantly, Nixon attempted to influence the Justice Department's decision in a pending action against ITT. Turns out it is illegal for a sitting President to attempt to influence a Justice Department decision in a matter before it. Doesn't matter if it succeeds or not, it's illegal to even try it. The Watergate prosecutors look into this, and a shitload of people went to prison.
One thing is for sure, Trump is not one for history. Frankly, I don't think that Trump even reads the Sunday comics. While the pretty colors may amuse him, he doesn't get the jokes, especially when it comes to Doonesbury. But even if Trump did study history, he wouldn't learn from it, Nixon was a jerk, while Trump is the YUGEST brain ever. And because of this, he's repeating a completely unnecessary mistake that helped to lead to Nixon's downfall.
The longstanding rule is "Hands off of the freakin' Department of Justice!" But, as in all other things, rules do not apply to The Imperious Dummscheisse. In less than 10 months, Trump has attempted to suborn Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the Trump-Russia investigation for conflicts of interest, and bragged of it publicly.. He has personally intervened to attempt to get James Comey to drop his investigation to the traitor Michael Flynn. He has made it clear in both tweets and interviews that he wants the Justice Department to investigate, and preferably exile Hillary Clinton to a deserted ice floe in the Bering Straits. And now he has done it again.
Trump's animus for CNN is legendary, especially his distaste for CNN reporter Jim Acosta. As candidate Trump, in his rallies he did everything but guarantee that if he were elected he would stop the AT&T-Time Warner merger. This would be a purely political revenge to screw Time Warner for daring to own and operate CNN. And guess what? Yesterday the Justice Department announced that it would sue in court to block the merger because Time Warner had refused to divest itself from CNN in order for it to go through. What makes this particularly troubling for the Justice Department is the fact that it has been reported that previously the Justice Department had found no reason to block the merger. The fact that the Justice Department publicly stated that Time Warner would have to cut CNN loose for the deal to get approval spotlighted exactly where the department;s objections lay. Right where Donald Trump wanted them to lie. Fuck CNN.
Maybe Trump can have us taxpayers pay for a gypsy fortuneteller to hold a seance to bring Nixon to the Oval Office for a chat. Trump is making exactly the same mistake that Nixon did, using the Justice Department as his personal cudgel for his own agenda and petty personal griveances, and it's going to have the same goddamn result. It has already been reported that Robert Mueller III has already requested documents from the Justice Department regarding both memos and otgher information having to do with Sessions decision to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation, as well as documents concerning the firing of James Comey.
It would be inconceivable to me that Mueller would not request documentation on the decision to Sue to stop the AT&T -Time Warner deal as well, especially to see the earlier documents basically giving the deal the go ahead. Granted this has nothing to do with Trump-Russia, but Muellers mandate authorizes investigating any crimes that come up in his investigation. Obstruction of justice is not the only crime that Trump could be in jeopardy on here, abuse of power is also a high crime and misdemeanor. And if it turns out that Trump even attempted to interfere with the operations and decisions of the Justice Department in any of the cases I mentioned above, Trump-Russia may be the least of his worries. Abuse of power may be even easier to prove than obstruction of justice. Don't touch that dial.
Reposted on The Trump Impeachment