OPINION: Watergate Part 2? The similarities between Trump and Nixon

Just over four decades ago, the nation waited with bated breath for an answer to the question, what did the president know and when did he know it? The Watergate break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters happened during the election campaign of 1972, but too little was known in November for the investigation to have any impact on the election.

Within months of Richard Nixon’s inauguration, though, a presidential aide revealed that tape recordings existed of every White House conversation involving Nixon.  Soon, it became clear that these tapes would definitively answer the question of Nixon’s responsibility. By February 1974, an impeachment process had begun against Nixon.  That August, Nixon resigned rather than face possible impeachment, after Republicans joined the calls for his resignation.

{mosads}Is there a parallel between those events and Donald Trump’s recent actions? It is far too early to know definitively. But already, there are similarities worth noting.

Evidence reported thus far in Congressional hearings has established that repeated contacts occurred in the spring and summer of 2016 between Trump campaign loyalists and Russian officials. Among those identified as participating in those conversations are former National Security adviser General Michael Flynn (since fired by Trump) and Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager.

News reports in papers as diverse as the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post have explored in some detail how Russians “hacked” Clinton campaign e-mails, and through third parties like Wikileaks, used the information gleaned from these computer hacks to undermine the Clinton campaign. 

A pivotal figure in all of this has been James Comey, who until yesterday served as director of the FBI. Comey only recently started to testify before Congressional committees investigating the issue of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Thus far, he has confirmed that the FBI is investigating both Russia’s meddling in the election — and potential Trump campaign ties to Russia.

Comey has been an extraordinarily controversial figure in the last ten months. Many attribute Hillary Clinton’s defeat to the fact that two weeks before the election, he sent a letter to Congress indicating the FBI had learned of new emails pertinent to the bureau’s investigation of Clinton.

But Comey has also been candid in saying that the FBI is investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives during the 2016 election. Indeed, Comey was supposed to testify tomorrow, May 11, before the Senate Intelligence Committee concerning Russian interference in the U.S. election.

It is the timing of Trump’s decision to fire Comey that raises suspicions the most. Trump may claim that Democrats and Republicans alike have lost confidence in Comey, but Democrats are not demanding his resignation — notwithstanding his role in raising issues about the Clinton campaign.

The history of Watergate raises some potentially disturbing parallels. Nixon insisted on firing Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor hired to investigate the Watergate break-in. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy both refused to proceed with the firing, ultimately resigning over the issue. The consequence was that the investigation of Nixon’s role in Watergate was deferred for months.

Is there a possibility that Trump fired Comey for the same reason — to delay, obscure, or undermine Congressional hearings that were about to get into the classified nitty-gritty of the Russian government’s actions, possibly including collusion with Trump campaign?

We may not know the answer for some time to come — time that Trump will have bought by firing Comey. But coming as it does on the heels of the chaos of the first 100 days of the Trump presidency, the termination of Comey as FBI director, just as he was about to testify about what involvement the Trump campaign may have had with Russia in the 2016 campaign, raises disturbing questions about potential parallels with Watergate.

William Chafe is the Alice Mary Baldwin Professor of History, emeritus at Duke University. He is the former president of the Organization of American Historians and the author of thirteen books on the Civil Rights Movement, women’s history and the personal politics of the presidency.        

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