The White House is in turmoil. Politicians from both parties and media of all stripes seem more focused on rumored Trump campaign contacts with Russia than on policy. The question heard all over Washington is the same one former Senator Howard Baker asked in 1973: "What did the President know, and when did he know it?"
Much of what is going on today resembles what happened during "Watergate." The Trump White House consistently denied that there was any contact between its operatives and members of the Russian government. On March 3, USA Today listed 21 denials members of the Trump team used when denying that any contacts took place. Nevertheless, on February 13 National Security Advisor Michael Flynn "resigned" for lying about is discussions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kisliak..
On March 2, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, accused of lying under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his meetings with the same ambassador, recused himself from investigations involving contacts between the Trump team and Russia. A few days later several other team members, including Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, were identified as having been involved as well.
In the meantime the administration appears to have developed palpable paranoia, showing greater concern about the leaks of information, than about the substance of the investigation. Finally, last week the president accused his predecessor of committing a felony by tapping is phone, which caused the director of the FBI to ask the Justice Department to tell the president to stop lying.
As this political melodrama continues to unfold, it may be useful to review the chronology of events that surrounded the Watergate scandal. Much of the following was first reported by the Washington Post:
* June 13, 1971: The New York Times begins printing the "Pentagon Papers" released earlier by former defense analyst Daniel Elsberg.
* Sept. 9, 1971: The White House "Plumbers," a covert special investigations unit established July 24, 1971 during Richard Nixon's presidency tasked with stopping leaks of classified information, burglarizes Elsberg's psychiatrist's office.
* June 17, 1972: Five men are arrested trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel and office complex.
* June 19, 1972: Reports surface that a GOP security aide is among the Watergate burglars. Former Attorney General John Mitchell, head of the Nixon reelection campaign, denies any complicity in the operation.
* Aug. 1, 1972: A $25,000 cashier's check, earmarked for the Nixon campaign, ended up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar.
*Sept. 29, 1972: The Post reports that John Mitchell, while serving as Attorney General, controlled a secret Republican fund used to finance a wide-spread intelligence gathering operation against the Democrats.
* Oct. 10, 1972: A Post article asserts that the Watergate break-in stemmed from a massive political spying and sabotage campaign conducted on behalf of the Nixon re-election effort.
* Nov. 11, 1972: Nixon re-elected in a landslide , crushing Democratic nominee George McGovern of South Dakota.
* Jan. 30, 1973: Former Nixon aide G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. convicted of conspiracy and wiretapping in the Watergate incident. Five others plead guilty.
* April 30, 1973: Top White House staffers H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resign over the scandal. White House counsel John Dean is fired.
* May 18, 1973: Senate Watergate Committee begins its nationally televised hearings. Attorney General Elliot Richardson taps former Solicitor General Archibald Cox to be Special Prosecutor.
* June 3, 1973: John Dean tells Watergate investigators that he discussed the cover-up with Nixon at least 35 times.
* June 13, 1973: Watergate prosecutors find a memo to John Ehrlichman describing Daniel Elsberg's psychiatrist's break-in in great detail.
* July 13, 1973: Former White House aide Alexander Butterfield tells Senate Watergate Committee that Nixon, since 1971, has recorded all conversations and telephone calls in his office.
* July 18, 1973: Nixon orders White House taping system disconnected.
* July 23, 1973: Nixon refuses to turn over presidential tape recordings to the Watergate Committee.
* Oct. 20, 1973: Saturday night massacre - Nixon fires Archibald Cox and abolishes the office of the special prosecutor. Attorney General Richardson and his deputy, William Ruckelshaus, resign.
* Dec 7, 1973: The White House can't explain an 18 1/2 minute gap in one of the subpoenaed tapes.
* April 30, 1974: White House releases more than 1,200 edited transcripts of Nixon tapes. Committee insists that the actual tapes must be turned over.
* July 24, 1974: Supreme Court unanimously rejects Nixon's claim of executive privilege, and directs that the White House must turn over tape recordings of presidential conversations.
* July 27, 1974: The House Judiciary Committee passes the first of three articles of impeachment, charging obstruction of justice.
* August 8, 1974: Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. President to resign his office.
None of this is intended to suggest that the current investigation will lead to a similar outcome. The party in power controls the scope and intensity of the inquiry. Impeachment, after all, tends to be more political than strictly constitutional.
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