There are so many stories hitting the news daily about candidate and now President Trump that it’s difficult to keep up. But there’s only one story that really matters — one that truly has the potential to be lethal to his presidency. That story can be broken into two parts — the crime, and the cover up. Sound familiar? How about this then — what did the president know, and when did he know it? Back in 1974, this became the main question asked during the Watergate hearings.
The Washington Post’s now-famous stories dug deep into the Watergate scandal before any other news outlet even began reporting on it. At the time the Post’s reporting was ridiculed by Republicans and the administration, and Nixon won re-election in a landslide in 1972. The Watergate break-in had only just occurred in June of that year. Republicans called those WP stories irresponsible, and condemned the paper for not showing more respect for the President of the United States. They claimed the stories were fabricated — “fake news” in essence. Eighteen months later Nixon resigned in order to avoid impeachment. He was the first president ever to do so.
Many of his men tried to insulate President Nixon from the crime of breaking into Democratic headquarters to gain political advantage. Many of these same men went to prison because of a deliberate cover up of that crime. Eventually the president himself was facing a possible criminal trial, before being fully pardoned by President Ford.
When compared to Watergate, Trump’s Russian connections have the potential to have far worse consequences for him and others.
President Trump’s chief of staff Reince Priebus attempted to squash reports that the Trump team interacted with Russian officials during the campaign by asking the FBI to proclaim the stories to be false. The FBI refused to do as he asked, and in making that request Priebus was breaking the law. One question that will be asked during the hearings on what many are calling “Russiagate” is whether or not the president ordered Priebus to do make that request of the FBI.
Nixon began losing his cronies’ loyalty after his requests became increasingly demanding and showed no sign of declining. At a certain point those cronies began feeling betrayed by their leader, and their loyalty to their country surpassed loyalty to their president.
Will Reince Priebus find that patriotism within himself? Will he betray his boss in order to avoid betraying his country? Either way, he could face serious consequences.
Trump is a skilled entertainer, adept at creating diversions from the real story. And for the most part we’ve been falling for these diversions. Hillary is a crook! The intelligence community is inept! Judges are not legitimate! The press is fake news! All of these are smokescreens put up to distract attention from the one story, the only story — Trump’s connections to Russia.
The dossier from the British intelligence officer is part of the story. It continues to be investigated and is key to unraveling the puzzle. Trump’s tax documents are a part of the story, which is why he refuses to reveal them against his own promises to do so. Five Russian diplomats’ deaths are a part of the story. General Flynn’s resignation as National Security Advisor, and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s resignation last August are both part of the story.
With each passing day, and despite the Trump organization’s best efforts to deflect our attention away from it, there continues to be only one story. What did the president know, and when did he know it?
