The Clintons Learned the Wrong Lesson From Watergate

The Clintons Obviously Learned the Wrong Lesson From Watergate Five operatives broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Office Complex on June 17, 1992. Frank Wills, an alert security guard, discovered the burglary in progress and called the police. Five operatives were arrested with the trail leading to CREEP (The Committee for the Reelection of the President), President Nixon’s reelection campaign. Several high officials were implicated in the break-in and subsequent coverup, but no evidence surfaced that showed the President was involved with the break-in or coverup. The publicity was bad for the President, but he could survive. Not even a vengeful Mark Felt, Jr., Deputy Director of the FBI, “Deep Throat,” could bring the President down. White House aide Andrew Butterfield disclosed to Senate investigators on July 13, 1973 that the White House had a voice activated recording system in several rooms. President Nixon’s legal obstruction failed and he was ultimately forced to turn over the tapes, absent a missing 18½ minutes segment on June 20, 1972. President Nixon still had time to destroy the tapes, but did not, thereby dooming his Presidency. It’s unclear if the President authorized the Watergate break-in, but his involvement is clear in the subsequent coverup. Hillary Clinton knew all about Watergate. The 27 year old Yale Law School grad was hired in 1974 as a staff member for the Presidential Impeachment Inquiry of the House Judiciary Committee., from which she was fired for unethical behavior. The general consensus is that President Nixon’s failure to destroy the tapes cost him the Presidency. Certainly, that is what Hillary Clinton and the Obama Administration believe (cf. IRS). First, the former secretary of State said she did not use the State Department server for her email, but a private email account. Second, she claims that she turned over hard copy of her official emails on the server, but not her personal emails. Aides had reviewed the emails and determined which ones to destroy and save. Third, there are no classified emails as secret on her server. Fourth, any classified email on her private email account was not classified at the time. Fifth, she has denied receiving or sending any emails classified as secret. Sixth, she turned over the server to the FBI, but it has apparently been scrubbed clean. The obvious question is that if she didn’t use the State Department computer, then how did she receive classified information on her private email account? If she didn’t receive or send classified emails, then how did they end up on her server? Was it an immaculate text? A stray email? Trojan Horse Virus? “I never had emails with that server?” Are her aides who examined her emails cleared to handle classified information? The Clintons believe they can bluster their way through scandals. They believe that President Clinton succeeded with perjury, suborning perjury and obstruction of justice. He got him through eight years, but he ultimately paid a penalty and saw his law license suspended. They adhere to: “Do you believe what you saw with your own eyes, or what I’m telling you?” President Nixon was not forced to resign because of the Watergate burglary, for which he was not linked, but for orchestrating the subsequent coverup. The evidence, the “smoking gun,” was in the tapes. He was doomed when ordered to turn them over. The former Secretary of State is not repeating that mistake. She destroyed the evidence. Or so she thinks. The problem with coverups is that they get increasingly difficult to maintain. Hillary has had to engage in an infinite number of stories with each misstatement being increasingly incredulous. Her husband had charm and style in his prevarications. She does not. She doubly broke the law, first with the pirate email account with classified information, and then trying to cover it up. Her ardent supporters may stick by her to the end and blind themselves to her misconduct, but her crowds are small and the public confidence in her is plunging. She could have come clean at the beginning and admitted a mistake. But no, she had to coverup. She would have survived, but now she is not going to be the next President of the United States.