Donald Trump's Ukraine scandal ‘beyond anything Richard Nixon did’ in Watergate

US President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One
AFP via Getty Images
David Gardner22 November 2019

Donald Trump’s role in the Ukraine scandal was “far more serious” than anything done by Richard Nixon during Watergate, claimed Adam Schiff, the chairman of the impeachment inquiry.

The Democrat congressman insisted the President’s abuse of power goes “beyond anything Nixon did”.

He compared Mr Trump’s claim that there was “no quid pro quo” to President Nixon’s infamous declaration that, “I’m not a crook.”

“What we’ve seen here is far more serious than a third-rate burglary of the Democratic headquarters,” said Mr Schiff, referring to the break-in at the Watergate building in Washington that eventually led to Nixon’s resignation as he faced impeachment.

House Intelligence Committee chair, Adam Schiff
POOL/AFP via Getty Images

With the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives almost certain to vote in favour of President Trump’s impeachment, the US Senate — which has a Republican majority — was preparing for a public trial that is likely to decide his fate.

In his closing remarks to the House Intelligence Committee, which has been hearing public testimony on the impeachment case, Mr Schiff called on Republicans to put partisanship aside.

“The difference between then and now is not the difference between Nixon and Trump, it’s the difference between that Congress and this one,” he said.

President Richard M. Nixon in 1974
AP

“And so we are asking, where are the people who are willing to go beyond their party to look to their duty?

“There is nothing more dangerous than an unethical president who believes they are above the law. And I would just say to people watching… that we are better than that”

House Intelligence Committee chair, Rep. Adam Schiff (centre)
Getty Images

Democrats have accused Mr Trump of abusing his position for his own political ends by demanding a public investigation by Ukraine into Democrat rival Joe Biden’s business dealings in return for the release of a $391 million US military aid package to the country.

In the US, it is illegal to seek foreign help to gain an advantage in an election. The White House has denied seeking a quid pro quo deal with Ukraine.

A House Intelligence Committee hearing
POOL/AFP via Getty Images

In the final day of public impeachment hearings yesterday, a former White House aide claimed Mr Trump promoted a false theory that Ukraine rather than Russia had meddled in the 2016 US presidential election.

British-born Fiona Hill denounced the “fictional narrative” and claimed it was “perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves”.

“In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests,” added Dr Hill, a coal miner’s daughter who became a US citizen and the White House’s top Europe and Russia expert.

She said Mr Trump appeared to have disregarded counsel from senior White House officials and listened instead to the advice of his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who had been making “incendiary” claims about Ukraine that would “probably come back to haunt us”.

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