Trump Escalates Nixon War Against Justice in Slow-Motion

Saturday Night Massacre, Oct. 20, 1973, is the day that almost
saw the end of the United States as a Constitutional state

David Brinkley summed up the October 20, 1973 Saturday Night Massacre when he reported, "An investigator appointed to investigate scandals was fired because he insisted on investigating scandals."

The Trump administration is embroiled in scandals. The administration is hell-bent on destroying any institution that proposes to investigate this corrupt and unprecedented presidency.

This means the FBI, the U.S. Dept of Justice, press, non-Trump-aligned members of Congress; there is no discernible bottom to the Trump enemies list.

The preeminent investigator of Trump is Robert S. Mueller III, United States Department of Justice, appointed May 17, 2017. Mueller is under fire for investigating Trump scandals.

Mueller is charged with probing "Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and related matters."

Mueller is acting in a manner beyond reproach, and thus we can expect today's toxic brand of Republicans to engage in character assassination of Mueller and every human resource involved in the probe, starting with the FBI.

When Trump begins his firings at the DoJ to shield his complicity in criminal conspiracies, it's certain Trump won't be guided by William D. Ruckelshaus, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, acting F.B.I. director and deputy attorney general under President Richard Nixon before Nixon forced out Ruckelshaus and Attorney General Elliot Richardson for not firing Archibald Cox, the Watergate special prosecutor.

Writes Ruckelshaus in the New York Times last Summer:

Mr. President, don’t worry whether you have the power to pardon yourself. But do consider the wisdom of firing the man charged by your own deputy attorney general with investigating Russian intervention into your election. ...

... the situation between the White House and Richardson began to rapidly deteriorate. Elliot called to let me know, and I returned to Washington on Wednesday evening. Three days later, Elliot and I resigned after refusing to carry out President Nixon’s order to fire the special prosecutor. Cox was then dismissed by Robert Bork, who had quickly been designated acting attorney general.

The resulting public firestorm, which became known as the 'Saturday Night Massacre,' marked the beginning of the end of the Nixon presidency. Congressional support eroded, the House Judiciary Committee began impeachment hearings and the Supreme Court ordered the release of White House tapes capturing the president and his aides plotting the cover-up. Nearly 10 months after that October night, Nixon resigned.

The events of recent weeks have eerily reminded me of those Watergate days. When accusations of Russian involvement in last year’s election first surfaced, I thought President Trump could quickly put them to rest by revealing all he knew and instructing his staff to do the same, just as President Nixon could have done with the Watergate burglary in 1972.

But President Trump hasn’t done that, even though he has consistently asserted his complete innocence. Why not lay it all out for the public to judge for itself? Are we headed for another long national nightmare? For the sake of the country, I hope not.

Donald Trump is a disgrace and one hopes the investigators appointed to investigate Trump's sleaze, corruption and possibly treason press on no matter the toxic reaction from this clear and present danger to the Republic occupying the presidency.