No comparison of Comey, Watergate

On June 11, the Daily Herald editorial board weighed in on the historic testimony delivered to Congress by former FBI Director James Comey.

But the board's leap in noting that "President Richard Nixon was forced to resign when the smoking gun tape recording exposed an eerily similar attempt to cut off an investigation of Watergate" is wildly unfounded.

To illustrate the similarity between Watergate and Comey's central allegation of obstruction of justice, the board stated, "Comey testified Trump directly asked him to drop the investigation into fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's relationship with Russia's ambassador to the United States."

And to substantiate their claim, the board employed testimony in which Comey concurrently admitted that he was unaware of anyone ever being charged for using Trump's following choice of words: "He then said, 'I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.'"

In jaw-dropping contrast, the aforementioned tape recording from just after the Watergate break-in, documented the initial stages of an elaborate two-year cover-up. It revealed Nixon's meeting with his chief of staff, where they discussed how to block the FBI from continuing their investigation into the break-in.

On the tape, the scheme was revealed, "The Democratic break-in thing, we're back to the problem area and their investigation is now leading into some productive areas."

Haldeman then presented the plan to obstruct the investigation, "The way to handle this now is for us to have the CIA call the FBI and just say, 'Stay the hell out of this.'"

Nixon sealed his fate by unambiguously replying, "All right, fine, I understand it all. You call them in. Good. Good deal. Play it tough."

Frank Gabl

Prospect Heights