MAY 17, 2017
Photo: Getty
What an intense and remarkable ten days that we have just experienced.
Those of us of a certain age may remember the days leading up to the Watergate case exploding and being alternately shocked and fascinated. Piece by piece, as the lies that the Nixon Administration told slowly began to be exposed, it was a historical thrill to watch the Nixon loyalists putting on a brave face and compare that to the GOP politicians who could see what was coming and tried to find a career-salvaging exit strategy.
Since this whole Trump/Russia issue first arose, I resisted any Watergate comparison. Time after time just before the election, Trump would make (for anyone else) a campaign-ending gaffe only to emerge stronger and more admired. So with this guy, you never know. However, after this past week and the events of Wednesday 5/17, I’m not sure that we can ever dismiss the Watergate comparison. But we’ll get to that in a second.
So, in case you’ve been too upset at the fact that “Scandal” is ending, let’s go back and take a look at these ten “you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up” days that have rivaled the worst of Watergate:
MONDAY, MAY 8
Reports surfaced that President Trump was warned not to hire Gen. Michael Flynn as his National Security Advisor by none other than President Obama himself. At the same time, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified to a congressional committee that she visited the White House twice to specifically warn Trump that Gen. Flynn was particularly vulnerable to blackmail from Russia.
TUESDAY, MAY 9
President Trump fires FBI Director James Comey, who is in the midst of an official investigation of Trump’s ties to Russia. The firing causes shock waves around Washington.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10
The Russian ambassador and foreign minister, along with a photographer from the Russian Government’s news agency TASS, are escorted into the Oval Office, a move that is widely criticized as making the White House vulnerable to planted surveillance bugs. The American press corps is banned from covering this meeting.
THURSDAY, MAY 11
Though the White House insisted that Trump’s decision to fire Comey was dependent on reports from the FBI and Deputy Atty. General Rod Rosenstein, Trump, in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, basically threw his staff under the bus and said that, reports aside, he planned to fire Comey from the very beginning.
FRIDAY, MAY 12
In a tweet (of course), Trump threatens Comey, saying that if he leaks any information to the press, he should worry that Trump has “tapes” he can release.
SATURDAY, MAY 13
Already named finalists to be Comey’s replacement at the FBI, all of whom are considered to be Trump loyalists, are trotted into the White House to be interviewed.
SUNDAY, MAY 14
On “Meet the Press,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) threatens to bring Comey before the Senate Judicary Committee to testify to what he knows about Trump.
MONDAY, MAY 15
Reports published by The Washington Post indicated that in his May 10 meeting with the Russian officials in the Oval Office, Trump revealed, in what was reportedly a boastful moment, highly classified information, given to the U.S. by Israel, that the Russians can now use however they please. The question remains, “Why?”
TUESDAY, MAY 16
The New York Times published a story that revealed that Comey had kept a detailed series of notes after each meeting with Trump, one entry noting that, at a meeting at the White House, Trump dismissed everyone in the room, including Comey’s boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, to privately ask Comey to stop his investigation of Mike Flynn.
Which brings us to WEDNESDAY, MAY 17
At approximately 6pmET/3PT (a time at which all of these bombshells seem to break), it was announced that the Department of Justice has appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to lead the investigation of the Trump campaign’s ties of Russia during the 2016 election.
This is a big deal.
Mueller’s reputation for absolute integrity is legendary around Washington. After his confirmation hearings, Mueller was approved for the FBI director post by a vote of 98-0 in the Senate (can you imagine that happening today?) and assumed office one week before 9/11. He served his Bush-appointed term for the first 10 years without a blemish and was so clean at the job that President Obama asked him to stay on for a few more.
After his appointment was announced on Wednesday, both Republicans and Democrats scrambled to the mics to attest that, based on their experience with him, Mueller is only interested in getting to the truth and not letting go until he gets to it.
Donald Trump should be very worried tonight.
