OPINION:
Karl Marx once observed, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce.” Those words came to mind when I heard that Attorney General Merrick Garland had appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel in the Hunter Biden matter.
That appointment brought to mind an event that took place nearly 50 years ago, when a desperate President Richard Nixon, hounded by his opponents during the Watergate scandal, made a dramatic move regarding a special prosecutor.
Fearful that the ever more aggressive investigation by special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was seeking to ascertain the truth about the burglary at the Watergate office complex, was about to uncover highly detrimental information, Nixon ordered his attorney general to fire Cox.
Elliot Richardson, the attorney general, refused to follow Nixon’s instructions and resigned, as did William Ruckelshaus, his second in command. It was the next in command at the Justice Department, Robert Bork, who finally complied with Nixon’s instructions and fired Cox. The event became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre.”
Nixon’s efforts ultimately came to naught. The removal of the special prosecutor actually accelerated the inevitable. Nixon’s actions caused an uproar and within a short time, a new special prosecutor was named.
The House of Representatives began an impeachment inquiry, and Nixon became the first president of the United States to resign, as he faced almost certain removal from office by the Senate.
The recent action by the Justice Department with respect to President Biden’s son is assuredly not the same as the firing of the special prosecutor that shook the nation in 1973.
But in some respects, last Friday’s action is a kind of mirror image of what happened decades ago. It is a reverse action, but it is one that could lead to a similar outcome.
Initially, the Watergate scandal appeared to be a relatively inconsequential matter, just a “third-rate burglary.” Over the course of nearly two years, however, that inconsequential bungled burglary became a national cause celebre.
Steadily but relentlessly, damaging disclosures emerged.
The coup de grace came from Nixon himself. In a congressional hearing, it was disclosed that the Oval Office had a taping system and that every word spoken by Nixon had been recorded.
When the Supreme Court ruled that the White House tapes had to be disclosed, Nixon’s self-incriminating words brought about his resignation.
Certain echoes to the Bidens’ situation resonate, with interesting variations.
Hunter Biden’s own words (and photos) are damaging. Unlike in Watergate, they emerged, not last, but first. Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop first alluded to alleged misdeeds by the Biden family.
Unlike the thorough press coverage of the White House taping system in 1973, however, the mainstream press has done everything in its power to cover up the laptop disclosures.
The evident misdeeds of the White House “plumbers” were investigated by two relentless reporters at The Washington Post. With the Bidens, the same newspaper has done all it can to avoid investigating the Biden family and to misdirect the public’s attention to other matters (principally by trying to keep the focus on former President Donald Trump’s actions).
And instead of diligently seeking to uncover misdeeds by Hunter Biden and his family, Mr. Weiss has apparently done very little digging into the allegations that are rapidly becoming a kind of “Bidengate.” He has slow-walked and sought to minimize the alleged offenses that he has been investigating.
It has taken, not a government prosecutor or two determined young reporters, but two IRS whistleblowers, to supply momentum to the investigation of the Bidens.
Yet in some respects, Mr. Biden has followed the Nixon handbook. He has stonewalled every effort to reveal his son’s (and by extension, his family’s) activities in eliciting millions of dollars in payments unrelated to any apparent legitimate services.
When questioned by the press, he has either pretended not to hear the questions or seemingly twisted the truth in responding to questions that he could not evade.
However, in a reversal of the manner in which Watergate unfolded, it is Congress that must pursue an investigation of the comportment of the Bidens. In Nixon’s case, Congress initiated an investigation based upon the findings of the prosecutor.
With Bidengate, Congress must initiate an investigation that the U.S. attorney in charge, now the newly designated special counsel, seemed reluctant to pursue. So it is not the dismissal of a special prosecutor that is triggering renewed momentum in the Biden saga, but rather, the designation of a special counsel.
But there is one particular difference that distinguishes this possible Biden scandal from Watergate. The third-rate burglary and all of the other improper actions spearheaded by Nixon were predicated on his genuine belief that he was protecting the nation from its domestic enemies.
There is no such lofty pretense today. It would appear as though President Biden’s alleged misdeeds may simply be the result of an old-fashioned motive: greed.
By this latter analysis, the Biden bribery scandal could end up being a Watergate-like tragedy turned into a sordid and very pedestrian money-grubbing scheme. The removal of Mr. Biden from office, if it comes to that, will then be history repeating itself, just as Karl Marx observed, in the form of farce.
• Gerard Leval is a partner in the Washington office of a national law firm. His book, “Lobbying for Equality: Jacques Godard and the Struggle for Jewish Civil Rights During the French Revolution,” was published by HUC Press last year.
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