Democrats have been throwing around the words “Watergate” and “Impeachment” for weeks. Few Independents have taken the talk seriously, and of course, Republicans have laughed, so the claims have remained “loose talk.” Even the Watergate scandal did not become a problem for Richard Nixon until Republicans, most notably, Howard Baker, began to ask questions, too.
While the complaints about Donald Trump do not seem dangerous at this time, some Republicans are questioning the changing and conflicting explanations from the White House. And now, Republican Senator John McCain has actually used the word, “Watergate,” according to The Hill.
Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) reportedly said Tuesday that scandals within President Trump’s administration are reaching a “Watergate size and scale.” . . .
McCain’s statement came just hours after a bombshell report that Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey inFebruary to stop his investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Trump has faced a major fallout over the last week following his surprise firing of Comey and reports that he revealed highly confidential information to Russian diplomats.
McCain also reportedly criticized Trump during his speech, calling it “unacceptable” to have allowed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov into the Oval Office. . .
McCain said the advice he would give Trump is the same others would give Nixon: “Get it all out.” Meaning tell the full truth now
McCain says having Russian foreign minister Lavrov in the Oval Office is just “unacceptable” due to Russian abuses.
The current crisis for Trump is due to the one-two punch of the firing of FBI chief James Comey, followed by his secret meeting [American media were banned] with Russian officials and bragging about intelligence that ISIS was planning to use laptop computers to blow up planes. We received that information from Israel, who has a spy planted inside ISIS.
Comey has not told his side of the story, but as a pre-emptive strike, Trump warned Comey in a tweet, “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes; of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”, according to Breitbart.
It would be perfectly in character for this to be a bluff. After all, who can remember everything that was said? Might Comey have said something untoward? So it might make a person hesitate to take on Trump.
However, during a time of warnings about Watergate, is it really wise to suggest that a president has tapes–the very thing that brought down Richard Nixon? And now, there’s also a call–by Republicans–for Trump to provide Congress with the tape that purports to exonerate Trump, according to the Weekly Standard. Another major Republican figure is also turning up the heat on Trump, according to TheBlaze.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) has sent a letter with a demand to the FBI that could spell a lot of problems for President Trump – it asks for all communications produced between former FBI Director Comey and the president to investigate alleged obstruction of justice.. . .
Chaffetz, the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, had said on his social media account that he would make sure the Comey memo was produced, even if he had to file a subpoena for it. “I need to see it sooner rather than later,” he posted, “I have my subpoena pen ready.”
That’s regarding the Trump-Comey meeting. Meanwhile, there are calls for transcripts of the Trump-Russians meeting, too, according to The Hill.
Lawmakers in both parties called for the White House to hand over transcripts of the meeting after Trump himself acknowledged earlier Tuesday that he shared sensitive information with the Russians.
White House officials have not denied that Trump shared classified information with Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, though they have pushed back on the idea that the revelation would have negative repercussions for the U.S. . . .“For the purpose of transparency, the White House should share a transcript of the meeting with the House and Senate intelligence committees,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), a former intelligence officer, tweeted Tuesday.
Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to provide transcripts of the Trump-Russians meeting–but it’s a question whether that helps Trump, or if a Russian transcript could be believed.
Trump’s real problem right now is that Comey wrote a memo at the time of the Trump meeting–before he had any reason to think there was friction with Trump. The memo gives Comey’s impression that Trump was pressuring him to halt the investigation of whether there was a link between Russian meddling in our election and the Trump campaign.
The National Review says, “the allegation is serious, and there is no good outcome.”
Here is the alleged chain of events: First, Trump asked Comey to drop an investigation of a close former associate and a former senior official in his administration. Second, Comey refused. Third, weeks later Trump fired Comey. Fourth, Trump then misled the American people regarding the reason for the dismissal. Each prong is important, but it’s worth noting that the fourth prong — Trump’s deception regarding the reason for Comey’s termination — is particularly problematic in context. Deception is classic evidence of malign intent.
All of this is worrying the GOP, according to the Washington Examiner.
Republicans in Congress fear President Trump could torpedo their majorities if he doesn’t save his White House from constant crisis and pivot to the issues voters elected him to deal with.
Things have gotten so bad that even Ann Coulter is ready to jump ship, according to Fox News Insider and the Daily Caller.
Ann Coulter was one of President Donald Trump’s most outspoken supporters during the 2016 election, but so far she’s been underwhelmed by his presidency.
In an interview with The Daily Caller on Sunday, Coulter said she still has hope in Trump, but she is ready to jump ship if things don’t change.
“I’m not very happy with what has happened so far,” Coulter said. “I guess we have to try to push him to keep his promises. But this isn’t North Korea, and if he doesn’t keep his promises, I’m out. This is why we voted for him. I think everyone who voted for him knew his personality was grotesque, it was the issues.”
Things look bad for Trump right now. But even with Republicans beginning to turn against him, one should remember that even Watergate took two full years to lead to Nixon’s resignation.
UPDATE
Since this article was written (yesterday!) there’s been a major development. We now have a “special counsel” looking into the Russian actions in our election last year. It’s being reported that Former FBI chief Robert Mueller is a “special prosecutor.” He’s actually a “special counsel.” A special prosecutor is independent. A special counsel is brought in, within the Justice Department, when the department might have a conflict of interest.
Interestingly, Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself, so it was up to Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General, to appoint the special counsel. He did this without consulting Trump, who got the news afterward, but took it well.
It is likely that we will begin to see a more “presidential” Donald Trump, as he was near the end of the campaign. Instead of shooting from the hip, he started speaking from a teleprompter (just as he had criticized Barack Obama for doing). It led to his election. Now, the incentive is to keep him from saying something, well, stupid, that could get him indicted.
Aides are now urging Trump to tweet and speak cautiously. “I think he actually understands what a mess this is,” one person said. “He has lawyers telling him nonstop what the stakes are here.”
And, as always, Trump is more worried about image than substance.
On Wednesday night, a person close to him said, Trump was in the White House residence talking to friends and associates about how it was playing on TV.
