nixon. nixon was a party guy, an animal. you know, to me nixon was a caricature, unfortunately.w, 10 years old, walking around the house, you know, just -- b-b-b-b-b, i am not a crook. now i have a much more complex view of the man and his presidency. >> president nixon created a brand new federal department, the environmental protection agency. >> the question who is richard nixon is almost imponderable. i looked at him as one of really the great minds that has ever really been in the presidency. he had achieved some extraordinary breakthroughs. i mean, his opening to china. detente with the soviet union. >> the sad truth is i think nixon would by today's standards be considered maybe a conservative democrat. maybe at some levels a radical leftist. [ phone ringing ] >> hello? >> here's one of the men around the president we don't hear much about. alex butterfield, deputy assistant, who handles much of the paperwork. >> my first meeting, i can't tell it without acting it. nixon came out from behind his desk and looked very tentative. he had no idea what to do. so he began to ges

but nixon was refusing to release any of them. >> president nixon today defied subpoenas demanding thatpers in his possession and the country moved closer to a clash between the white house and the congress and the courts which will be unprecedented in american history. >> it became clear he wasn't going to produce them voluntarily. there's a reason why he's drawing the line. he's taking all this flak, there must be some damaging things on there. i was concerned -- we were concerned that he might dispose of the tapes. that in and of itself could be a criminal offense. burning the tapes, destroying the tapes. >> nixon never thought the tapes that he was making secretly would ever surface publicly. they would always be for private use. >> it was never designed that they would come out so there is kind of a spontaneity and free flow of people talking about their authentic conclusions. and it's horrifying. >> mr. president, you have made it perfectly clear you don't intend to release the tapes. >> perfectly clear? >> perfectly clear. >> it would be up to the supreme court to make the decisi

nixon. nixon was a party guy, an animal. you know, to me nixon was a caricature, unfortunately. down. you know, 10 years old, walking around the house, you know, just -- b-b-b-b-b, i am not a crook. now i have a much more complex view of the man and his presidency. >> president nixon created a brand new federal department, the environmental protection agency. >> the question who is richard nixon is almost imponderable. i looked at him as one of really the great minds that has ever really been in the presidency. he had achieved some extraordinary breakthroughs. i mean, his opening to china. detente with the soviet union. >> the sad truth is i think nixon would by today's standards be considered maybe a conservative democrat. maybe at some levels a radical leftist. [ phone ringing ] >> hello? >> here's one of the men around the president we don't hear much about. alex butterfield, deputy assistant, who handles much of the paperwork. >> my first meeting, i can't tell it without acting it. nixon came out from behind his desk and looked very tentative. he had no idea what to do. so h

but nixon was refusing to release any of them. >> president nixon today defied subpoenas demanding that he produced tapes and papers in his possession and the country moved closer to a clash between the white house and the congress and the courts which will be unprecedented in american history. >> it became clear he wasn't going to produce them voluntarily. there's a reason why he's drawing the line. he's taking all this flak. there must be some damaging things on there. i was concerned. we were concerned that he might dispose of the tapes. that in and of itself could be a criminal offense. burning the tapes, destroying the tapes. >> nixon never thought the tapes that he was making secretly would ever surface publically. they would always be for private use. >> it was never designed that they would come out so there is a kind of a spontaneity and free flow of people talking about their authentic conclusions. and it's horrifying. >> mr. president, you have made it perfectly clear you don't intend to release the tapes. >> perfectly clear? >> perfectly clear. >> it would be up to the supre

of how serious a problem he would be in if he had another saturday night massacre of the kind that nixon had. after being warned he was still so determined to prevent the probe into the russia thing, into the way russia played a role in our election, that he ordered mcgahn to fire special counsel. >> i just want to pause on the point you make, before you go on, you just sort of swung through very quickly, because i know how fast your brain works, a very key observation, you're saying your understanding of this role and your knowledge of the way presidencies and the white house counsels work, is this entire operation would have necessarily included don mcgahn already discussed and warned to the president how serious this would be? >> that's certainly right. don mcgahn is a professional, he's got a reputation as a very fine lawyer. he would be committing malpractice as white house counsel if he didn't alert the president. so the president said i don't care, i want him gone. i want him gone. and i order you to get rid of him. and there are various things that don mcgahn could have done to c

still, nixon is hardly immune to it all.ne months later, nixon, on the verge of impeachment. but instead of being removed from office, he resigns. >> i shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. >> reporter: randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> david gergen and timothy naftali are back with us you. were working for nixon the night he ordered the firing of the special prosecutor. when you heard this proportionate that president trump had also ordered mueller to be fired, what were you thinking? is history repeating itself? >> it sure triggered a lot of memories when i read that the president did want to fire mueller, and fortunately someone talked him out of it. his own attorney said you do that and i'm out of here. and that persuaded him not to do it. so it was the saturday night massacre that didn't happen. i can tell you, going back to october of '73, at that time i was a lieutenant in the nixon white house. i was running his speech writing and research team. and none of us at the white house except at the very top a

>> there were no such attacks by nixon. in so far is there was anger from the nixon white house towards cox, sure. there was plenty of that even though it didn't blow up publicly very much, if you listen to the nixon tapes, he said all sorts of things about cox privately but no, the fbi, as far as i know did not sustain any kind of attacks like this. >> leon is the host of slates pod cast about watergate called slow burn. i am obviously a fan and i really appreciate you taking the time to be here. >> thanks for having me. >> will you come back? >> please. >> yes. much more, stay with us. his son-in-law -- secret talks with russians. the director of the fbi -- fired. special counsel robert mueller's criminal investigation has already shown why the president should be impeached. you can send a message to your representatives at needtoimpeach.com and demand they finally take a stand. this president is not above the law. >>> we reported on a story this week that got a ton of response from our viewers, lots of people contacted u

>> there were no such attacks on the fbi by nixon. in so far as there was anger from the nixon white house towards cox, sure, there was plenty of them. even though it didn't blow up publicly very much. if you listen to the nixon tapes, he said all sorts of things about archibald cox privately. but, no, the fbi, as far as i know, did not sustain any kind of attacks like this. >> leon is the host of the podcast about watergate called slow burn. i'm obviously a fan and i'm appreciative of you taking the time to be here. >> thanks for having me. >> will you come back? >> please. >> yes. much more, stay with us. 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get. >>> we reported on

>> there were no such attacks by nixon.n so far is there was anger from the nixon white house towards cox, sure. there was plenty of that even though it didn't blow up publicly very much, if you listen to the nixon tapes, he said all sorts of things about cox privately but no, the fbi, as far as i know did not sustain any kind of attacks like this. >> leon is the host of slates pod cast about watergate called slow burn. i am obviously a fan and i really appreciate you taking the time to be here. >> thanks for having me. >> will you come back? >> please. >> yes. much more, stay with us. lief ch. with more acid-fighting power than tums chewy bites. mmmmm...amazing. i have heartburn. ultra strength from alka seltzer. enjoy the relief. okay. your all you can eat ribenjoy. thanks. ♪ ♪ when i touch you like this ♪ and i hold you like that. ♪ it's so hard to believe ♪ but it's all coming back me. ♪ baby, baby, baby. ♪ if you touch me like this ♪ and when you hold me like that. ♪ all you can eat is back, baby. applebee's. eatin' go

richard nixon: "we could get that."hard nixon and white house counsel secret recordings talking about the watergate break-in. the special prosecutor - archibald cox - wants the tapes.and subpoenas the white house for them. nat of pres. richard nixon: "play it tough, that's the way they play it, and that's the way we're going to play it."but nixon invokes executive privilege and refuses to give up the tapes. but the u.s. court of appeals steps in - ruling that nixon must comply.nixon instead tries to hand over summaries of the recordings.but cox balks at the idea. archibald cox/special prosecutor, watergate investigation: "i think it is my duty to bring to the courts attention to what seems to me non- compliance with the courts order."thinking he has the country on his side, nixon takes a gamble and orders his attorney general, elliott richardson, to fire cox.nats of tom brokaw/nbc news: "good evening, there are reports tonight the president nixon has ordered attorney general elliott richardson to fire the special waterg

still nixon is hardly immune to it all.n the verge of impeachment, but instead of being removed from office, he resigns. >> i shall resign presidency. >> we decided to assemble a group of people involved. john dean was the president's white house counsel. richard benvennista. carl along with bob woodward would become journalistic legends. david, you were working fornixon the night. what went through your mind. >> saturday night massacre was a shock. i almost drove off the road coming home from dinner. literally some of the best people in government. and a clear sense we were in crisis. no one knew where we were going to end. it was ab big deal. it is so ironic and in some days one of the best days of his presidencies in davos. and thinking about being positive about the american competent and along comes this story. overshadows davos but it is his fate until it resolves. >> you were cooperating with investigators, but previously you were president nixon's don mcgahn, white house counsel. >> well the rules of ethics have cha

period, the headline about nixon we have already talked about. there's no question about it, that's bad. >> host: we have to give credit where credit is due. >> guest: not too much but it's a democratic congress and in that period nixon sends the message to have that done. housing vouchers pell grants indexing social security for inflation, fsis supplemental security for people with disabilities and the elderly and the poor. those are all during the nixon period and those are some of the major things like i said before they would be twice as many they didn't have those things. i think they forget to the big thing which is jobs when we have a third of our population, over 100 million people who are at 200%, twice the poverty level and where we have the poverty that we have now where we have 20 million people that have incomes below half the poverty line. that's because of what was done to cash assistance, the welfare especially for people at the very bottom. the other thing is that we never really stood up to the question of what are we going to d

he is channeling nixon. >> right.e is going to have to go down a ways before he finds his robert bork, though, the person who will actually deep six this investigation. i think just from everything i know of the justice department and the fbi, it will not easily give up this investigation. the purge that, again, you called a slow motion purge or saturday night massacre. that's certainly what it looks like. but that's not likely to cow or intimidate, i think, the really the fbi. i mean, the professionals in the fbi. i think they're going to keep moving forward. but it is an interesting juncture. those figures on public opinion were fascinating. and you remember what it was that actually really flipped public opinion, of course. it was the tapes. there was testimony. there was ongoing testimony that implicated the president. it was when finally we learned of and then knew we were going to get the tapes that proved it. that kind of changed everything. >> sure. >> that was the tipping point. the real tipping point. and i

still nixon is hardly immune to it all. nixon on the verge of impeachment, but instead of being removed from office, he resigns. >> i shall resign the presidency, effective at noon tomorrow. >> we decided to assemble a group of people who were very involved in what was happening in and around the white house, david gergen was the speechwrit speechwriter, the lead attorney for the watergate's special prosecutor's office and carl bernstein, carl along with bob woodward would become journalistic legends by breaking story after story in the post. i wonder what went through your mind then and what went through your mind when you heard president trump had attempted essentially the same thing? >> well, saturday night massacre was a shock, i almost drove off the road coming home from dinner. it literally was some of the best people in government were resigning en masse and there was a very clear sense we were in crisis, no one knew where it was going to end and the republic was in danger so it was a big deal. when i hear about pres

nixon. legitimately impressive achievements exploited to the utmost here. >> not long after that the noted state sent their national exhibition to moscow which was a huge hit. keepsake where various things were handed out to the visitors and this is a little polaroid keepsake. the american exhibition covered various topics including computer technology, automobile technology and kitchen technology. we have heard a lot about the kitchen debates. >> clearly what is going on during these exhibitions is this idea of which industry is better, capitalism or communism? in moscow big things was an american kitchen. you have the translators working with president next and and nikita khrushchev. nixon escortsent premier accretion of -- premier khrushchev. the official opening of the american exposition. to showcasing the high standard of life in our country, but on this occasion, traditional diplomacy goes by is eclipsed itself by a crackling exchange between nick's and and khrushchev. -- by nixon and

nixon down. but nixon never hinted at that publically, the stuff he was trying to do at the fbi. nixon never tweeted his antagonism toward the fbi for investigating him. he wouldn't dare publically intimidate the fbi. but donald trump is not half as smart as richard nixon. so he has spent the better part of a year attacking the fbi and the justice department for investigating him. which, of course, makes the need to investigate him all the more urgent. but andrew mccabe will no longer have a hand in that investigation or any fbi investigation. the only deputy director of the fbi and former acting director of the fbi to be publically attacked by the president of the united states repeatedly decided to quit the fbi this morning. a couple of months sooner than he was reportedly considering retiring. and he was only considering retiring then because he believed he had become too much of a distraction to the fbi given the president's public obsession with him. andrew mccabe has had a 20-year career in

nixon. in the elaborate cultural exchange, full-scale models of sputnik are among the things russia is proudest of. legitimately impressive achievements exploited to the utmost here. >> not long after that, the united states sent their national exhibition to moscow which was a huge hit. over 2 million russian visitors came to the exhibition. this is a keepsake. various things were handed out to the visitors and this is a little polaroid keepsake. and the american exhibition covered various topics including polaroid technology, automobile technology, and of course kitchen technology. we have heard a lot about the kitchen debates. >> indeed. >> do you want to talk more about the kitchen debates? >> clearly what is going on during these exhibitions is this idea of which industry is better, capitalism or communism? in terms of technology. in of the big features moscow was an american kitchen. you have the translators working with president nixon -- i am sorry, vice president and and nikita khrus

in an interview with politico, richard nixon's counsel john dean sees the similarities between team nixon and team trump. >> it's really how remarkable little they've learned about what went on in the past. every signal they have thrown from the get-go has been we're covering this up. they've done nothing to try to really dispose of it. the whole attitude has been we're hiding something. and so they -- i can only conclude they are hiding something. >> recent report big "the new york times" reveals that the trump campaign adviser george papadopoulos played a crucial role in the fbi's decision to open an investigation last year. into the trump campaign's contacts with russia, opening that investigation while the campaign was still going on. according to "the new york times," during a night of heavy drinking at an upscale london bar in may 2016, george papadopoulos made a startling revelation to australia's top diplomat in britain. russia had political dirt on hillary clinton. court documents show that about three weeks earlier, a professor with alleged kremlin contacts told george papadopou

richard nixon ranted privately. we learned a lot about that when the tapes were released but nixon was very careful not to let the public see the inner turmoil. only a couple of times near the end of his administration did the people actually see the anger within. so president trump has actually put on display even before the wolf book came out, this turmoil and anger. it's really damaging for him. frankly, a president should not be telling the world that he's not unfit and mentally unstable. i mean, that's not what the world needs to see. that's not what our adversaries need to hear. >> but he's telling the world he's a genius. >> he's being a sales man interesman there. the point is, it's damaging. >> he hasn't done anything differently than what we've seen him do previously. he's been consistent as far as that goes. ken, the president, though, is supposed to be planning the 2018 agenda today with the biggest republican leaders in congress. if you are mitch mcconnell and paul ryan in that group, what's going throu

specifically when nixon fired archibald cox, the real nixon reference is that if the president had moved on the special counsel, bob mueller, there may well have been a cascade of resignations just like with nixon that would have left trump exactly where nixon was. forced to resign for efforts to derail justice. that's where we are tonight. let's bring in one of the new york times reporters who broke the story. can you hear me? >> i can. >> where do you want to start? i think it makes most sense -- have you heard anything from the white house in response to this reporting? >> just a statement from ty cobb that out of respect for the process they were going to decline to comment. that's not a denial. i think it's worth noting. the first that we have heard of an actual effort by the president to do this. chris who is an ally of the president and who was in the white house last summer, around this time went on television and said the president was considering firing mueller. there was a frantic effort by white house advisors to walk that back and insist it wasn't true even though it was tru

he cited the nixon example. as it applies to the texts. it really applies to his effort this past summer to topple the special counsel. don mcgahn the white house counsel may have saved the trump presidency. the white house counsel reportedly stopped trump from being richard nixon. specifically when nixon fired cox. forget the president's reference of rose mary woods. his secretary. the real nixon reference is that if the president had moved on the special counsel bob mueller, there may well have been a cascade of resignations just like with nixon. that would have left trump exactly where nixon was. forced to resign. for efforts to derail justice. that's where we are tonight. let's bring in one of the "new york times" reporters who broke the story. magg magg maggie haberman. where do you want to start? it makes most sense. have you heard anything from the white house in term of response to the report? >> just the statement from ty cobb that's in the story. that out of respect for the process and special counsel they were going to decline c

it's partly nixon. it's partly very much the changes in the economic structure that's taking away the and social jobs, and it's these things that are created, mass incarceration and the attack on welfare, as part of a political strategy. >> host: so things, codewords like law and order began to gain significance, and codewords really used in that 68 election, john mitchell, attorney general. so at that time there was no war on drugs, but the war on drugs was declared back in, i believe, 1971 by richard nixon. how has that impacted this issue of mass incarceration? >> guest: it's very much a part of it. the numbers of people who, particularly people who get sent to prison for possession. if you are putting away all the dealers, you wouldn't fill up all the prisons. but if you put people, of course this is states who do this as well, isn't just federal law, that's a significant part of it. everything that happens, you have to sort of look at the situation. very interesting book by james forman about how m

it goes back to really the holderman and nixon.hat i discovered in doing the book, every president since nixon, has learned sometimes the hard way. if you cannot govern effectually without empowered chief of staff, first among equals to execute your agenda. host: name you touch on earlier james baker iii. one hell of a chief of staff. james baker and ronald reagan. what made jim baker so effective? guest: baker is a friend of mine. baker had secret sauce. baker was a guy who had -- he was a smooth as silk, texas attorney. he was 50 years old when he took the job. he had nothing to prove to anybody. he was grounded. he was confident. he knew capitol hill. he had white house experience. most importantly he could walk into the white house go into the oval office close the door and tell ronald reagan what he didn't want to hear. he did it often. i'll give you a quick example. ronald reagan was hell bent right out the block to tackle social security reform. that's what he wanted to do as his first big item. baker went in and sat down wi

can you tell me how things started to turn once richard nixon took office? >> guest: it certainly is a change. in the southern strategy, basalt that lyndon johnson himself had said in terms of what happens to the party in the south, tha sous what makes him was pursuing and there are two things that happened along with that. clearly, one part of it is to get them for people with organized in the senate as democrats as they didn't believe in the things that humphrey or other liberals did, but when they turned to the republicans, they were voting for the leadership in the majority after a while. but there are two other things that are important in the conversation. one is mass incarceration and the other is the 30 year war. what they saw that they needed to do is to have signals they would tend to say we are still good boys here. so one store in the 70s arresting a lot more people, walking up a lot of people. there is a degree of crime, but the response is much more extended and worse than that. and it's politics that work for them. and then for women they star

haldermanck to and nixon. what i discovered doing the book was every president since the end has learned sometimes the hard way you cannot govern effectively without an empowered white house chief of staff that is first among equals to execute your agenda. host: you touched on james baker, james baker and ronald reagan. what made jim baker so effective? guy, he had the secret sauce. he was as smooth as silk. he was 50 years old when he took the job. he had nothing to prove to anybody. he was confident, he knew capitol hill. he had white house experience. he could walk into the white office,o into the oval and tell ronald reagan what he didn't want to hear. he did it often. ronald reagan was hell-bent right out of the blocks to tackle social security reform. that's what he wanted to do is is the item. baker went in and sat down with them and explained, mr. president, it's the third rail of american politics. if you touch it you will be electrocuted. with baker'sd advice and wound up doing tax cuts and the econo

we know in nixon that nixon didn't want to give up the tapes because the tapes were so incriminatinghat when given up he was going to lose the office of the presidency. what we can't figure out here is what is it that the president is so afraid of here with respect to mueller? or alternatively is it just that he is so detests the notion of being investigated, that whoever holds that position is going to find themselves in his crosshairs, and this is just sort of almost a child like response to someone who is bullying him in his estimation. i just don't know, don. >> not only did the president order the firing, but mueller learned this through his own investigation. you know mueller. how do you think he reacted it this news, michael? >> well, so, the question is how does this fit into an obstruction of justice analysis. because that's what this relates mostly to. >> does he ask him now, why did you try to fire me? >> well, i don't know if he asks that exact question. but what he does is he understands that in june he was going to be fired for made-up reasons. the conflict of interest

also in the programme: we speak to steven spielberg about his nixon—era film, and why the director seesof the current leader, donald trump. anybody that offends, there is a label that is immediately attached to them which is that come be true because they are all fake news. and we're "all shook up!" — australians shake, rattle and roll at the annual elvis festival down under. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. it's 8am in singapore, midnight in london and 5am in islamabad in pakistan, where police have offered a 10 million rupee reward for information leading to the killer of 6—year—old zainab ansari. the discovery of the young girl's body has lead to violent protests in the city of kasur, where around a dozen other children have been killed in the past two years. secunder kermani reports from kasur. more anger on the streets of kasur. protesters clash after the funerals of two men killed in the unrest. residents of the city have reacted with fury to the murder and sexual assault of six—year—old zainab ansari. she went missing last thur

nixon's instructions. richardson's deputy has been fired. he refused in a moment of constitutional drama to obey an order to fire the special watergate prosecutor. in my career as a correspondent, i never thought i would be announcing these things. >> i never thought i would be announcing these things. that was john chancellor in 1973. the night richard nixon fired the man in charge of the investigation. this was the front page of the "new york times", nixon discharges cox for defiance, apologize accomplishes watergate task force. >> here is the thing, it turns out his task force didn't stop investigating watergate. it actually kept going even after cox was let go. the night of the saturday night massacre, the special prosecutors' team trekked down to the office to make sure their documents and evidence were secure. the fbi sealed up the space to make sure nothing was tampered with and then the investigation just kept going. soon the investigation got a boss. before he took it he made sure it would not happen to him. >> he accepted the prose

so it's really a defining event for the nixon presidency.crow was selected to head up the so-called plumbers unit. >> i was summoned to the oval office by the president, john and i met with him, there was some suspicion that dr. elsberg had access to the more recent war plans that had been developed by the nixon administration and would be able to release those documents. i came from that meeting feeling very strongly that i was dealing with a national security crisis and i was to take any means necessary to respond to it. >> the difficulty is that all the good lawyers always say well, we got to win the court case. screw the court case. but get the son of a bitch in the press. that's how it's done. >> the president decided to set up a special investigation unit in the white house. >> we have to have a better team. >> there's one guy on the outside. he could do it and i'll direct him myself and i play with gloves off. >> did dan elsberg work alone, was he working with other people? was it part of a conspiracy? it was in that context that a pr

john dean, he repeated, do you know what john dean did to nixon? your reaction to just being mentioned in the book, apparently you are being on tv drove the president nuts. do you get the sense that the president understands the independent nature of the doj? >> well, one of the reasons i became a cnn contributor was i was hoping i could get through to him and he would understand the parallels between what he's doing and watergate. i don't think he gets it even at this date. as norm says, there are real competency questions here. he doesn't know history. he obviously knows selected figures from history. and i certainly know what i did to nixon. i told the truth about him. and that's not something that trump wants his aides talking about apparently. >> what did you think of the quote itself? the quote? >> i missed that, i'm sorry. >> what did you think of the quote itself, comey was a rat, and going onto john dean, john dean, do you know what john dean did to get rid of nixon? >> yeah, i thought it showed he had some glimmer of knowledge of waterga

but it's pretty bad and a different atmosphere from the time of richard nixon.king and as tom was talking, i sort of think, i always complain about the fact that donald trump has zero interest in history and doesn't learn from history. i wonder if some people in his entourage, at least, have studied the saturday night massacre in which richard nixon fired his special considerate, archibald cox. and maybe what they have concluded is that it's not that nixon did it, it's the way he did it. and that maybe he would have gotten away with it, if he would have done it more slowly and more obliquely. and maybe that's what we're seeing today. >> folks say that if there was -- or posture, at least, if there was a fox news back then when nixon was in power, winix wouldn't would not have had to resign. what do you think of accusations like that, tom? >> i think we have to, especially in our business, just deal with the facts as we find them out on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. you know, part of the condition, part of the environment that has changed so much is social

first richard nixon in 1974 gave his speech under the cloud of watergate. >> mr. distinguished colleagues and our guests, i would like to add a personal word with regard to an issue that has been of great concern to all americans over the past year. i refer, of course, to the investigations of the so-called watergate affair. i believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. one year of watergate is enough. [ applause ] >> nixon also promised he wouldn't quit. six months later he resigned in disgrace. the other example, bill clinton. his speech in 1998 came just days after he denied having an affair with monica lewinsky, a denial which eventually led to his impeachment. but unlike nixon, clinton avoided the subject entirely. we're back with our panel. carl, i was going to make a joke about what it was like to cover nixon, but i won't. we can do that because we're old friends. but you were there for that speech. >> that along with many other state of the union addresses. >> how many? >> i think about 30. t

john was there are three or four years with nixon. his dog attacked the nixon french poodle and tore it up. [laughing] john went to sick bay called eucalyptus, and the president's position are stitching the presidents talk together. john is biopic he says i'm done, this is it. he goes over to aspen to go apologize, and he says it's okay, , come back tomorrow. he lived through it. i never had a store like that but what i learned was we all had so many similar stories and that's what it was even easier to write the book and bring in their anecdotes as well. yes, sir. >> 9/11, the days after, what can you say? >> so we are in hawaii. that was my consolation prize for leaving camp david, and we all our story and we were awakened at 3 p.m. one of the early reports we heard was a plane was going to camp david. so our daughters hear this and we're all thinking about friends and family which is left there. and then, knowing what's going on behind the scenes may be, you can't imagine what a whirlwind of uncertainty and chaos that must have bee

we would've had johnson versus nixon. the likelihood is johnson would have won that race but as we know, the outcome in terms of the issue of the day which is the war would not have made any difference which one of them won that race. this is not just a history book. it's an eyewitness account in many sections of this book. i don't always identify the eyewitness. for example, i was sitting on the floor at home with my parents and older brothers were sitting in the chairs around me. as we were watching the democratic convention and watching the rioting in the streets in chicago. i was watching that so some of these accomplishments here are things i saw with my own eyes and it's a combination of looking at the research material and remembering what i saw and the things i could never forget from the convention was the moment when the mayor of chicago, richard daley who was really running that convention is standing and yelling anti-semitic, profane slurs at senator abraham rubicon because abe stood up at that podium at the c

if you look at nixon, nixon knew government. he had been a congressman for four years. he knew the lever s of government. he read a lot. donald trump doesn't seem to be interesting. he's running the government as though it is his own family business, that is a big mistake. >> given the fact there are comparisons between the nixon presidency and trump presidency, where where the similarities? why do people make those anal y analogi analogies? >> on the obvious similarity, we don't know what robert mueller, the charges he may bring, if any. i'll tell you one thing about donald trump, it frightens me and that is i think richard nixon was more mentally stable than donald trump is and i think richard nixon had a minimal respect for constitutional norms. donald trump has no respect for any norms. he's a human wrecking ball. when nixon was on the verge of conviction in the senate for watergate, a delegation went to him, explained he had to resign and went quietly. can you imagine in a similar situation what donald trump would do? >> no, he would take to twitter. twitter or any

hit the top of nixon's enemies list. i think it's good that presidents are aware of watergate, consequences of watergate, and maybe he has some crude understanding of watergate. >> wolff also described president as quote john dean freak, would go quote bananas when you would go on tv comparing the russia investigation to watergate and talking about loyalty and what people would do for media attention. does this sound like properly functioning president of the united states? >> i've had problems with functioning of this president since the beginning. one of the reasons i was interested in being a cnn contributor when i accepted the post. i thought somebody needed to speak truth to this man and let him hear it, historical comparisons in particular. >> jeff toobin. >> we have this "new york times" story about don mcgahn at president's insistence talking to jeff sessions, trying to get him not to recuse himself. don mcgahn is one of your successors as white house counsel. do you think there's any problem, legal impediment, r

in nixon's case he was covering up a case. but in obstruction of justice litigation ta prosecutors bring all the time, you do not need to have the cover up of a crime. you just have the intent to interfere with the administration of justice or ongoing investigation. >> thanks a lot. i know these are complicated issues. we are going to stick on it. and trust me we'll be back to our question again. outfront next, who is white house counsel don mcgahn and is he looking out for the president or himself? plus not based in fact. so why are trump's allies clinging to them? >>> and a top senator who calls trump's move to fire mueller, quote, deeply scary, wants to take action now to protect the special counsel from the president. senator richard blumenthal will be outfront. don't let another weekend pass you by. get the lowest price when you book at hilton.com when heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. ythen you turn 40 ande eve

richard nixon saturday night eg mass cure. according to this reporting, that didn't happen because right there in the white house, don mcgahn said no, i won't make the call and i will quit if you insist that i must. but then there is is tthe perso stuff. according to this reporting. don mcgahn called the president a chicken. mcgahn told white house officials mr. trump would not follow through on the dismissal on his own. and he didn't. he told somebody else to fire mueller. the guy said no, i'm not doing it and apparently he told other people at the white house, watch, don't worry, he's not going to do it himself. and you know what? the president we know knows how to use a phone. if he did want to fire the special counsel, there is no reason that he couldn't have just called the doj himself, right? at least i think. we can check that out. this is a remarkable report that the president gave the order for his white house counsel to fire the special counsel but the white house counsel said no and then there is this one other litt

>> you know, i like the fact he brought up the comparison a little bit to nixon, if you look at nixon- neil: he was very hurtful to me. >> he was ugly. i love larry sabato. what is interesting, nixon was one of the best in foreign relations. trump is looking like he will have a pretty good, you know, take no prisoners type of, i don't want to say regime -- neil: but he can't keep saying stuff about the size of his nuclear button. >> what he is doing is, obama was very weak, we thought on foreign policy, and trump looks to be much better at that. but another thing that they're, i think so. neil: you didn't mind the nuclear button, playing fire with fire -- >> i think it is childish. whatever. people are moot to the point that he fires back. another thing with the comparison on nixon, nixon so mad at "the washington post" when all the stories ran, he said no one from the post will be ever be allowed, the post is horrible, no photographer, no nothing, he was at adamant about it. what is funny with trump with the "new york times," trump with cnn, trump whatever, trump with the media is al

when watergate came along, initially there was an institutional defense of president nixon and many of the republican members of the judiciary committee and others stood with the president for a long time and maybe some parallels to what we see happening here. until the steady above information and internal documents and tapes made the situation untenable, many of and in a sense it was too late. >> we are talking with author and historian john lawrence. he is also an adjunct member of d.c.. 202 is the nation' area code. 202 is the nation's202-704, 80 n >> the media changes have played a significant role in this rise of partisanship and polarization . he usesatrick moynihan, a you are entitled to your opinion but not to your own facts. your, you are entitled to own facts, not simply a false fax, but because of the emergence of cable and lower costs of entry for people to secure access to television because of talk radio, and particularly because of social internet, now have the ability to reinforce their own beliefs as opposed to be challenged. the newsmakers don't have to make their wa

-- no one claimed richard nixon was a traitor or richard nixon was aiding a foreign government.hich you've got all of that domestic stuff on the obstruction of justice side and plus maybe the greatest foreign policy security in the history of the country. >> absolutely. >> ee lesiolielise, add to that sanctions. this presidency, if you look outside the teleprompter box of the state of the union, it is almost like we're desensitized i think to how serious things are. i'm concerned this president will move to fire mueller. i think we have to talk about that. >> it's not exactly reassuring when the treasury department apparently just copy and pasted the forbes list of the wealthiest russians to build the list of people to bring up for possible sanctions. i am also struck last night just that cuba and venezuela were singled out but what about russia? in terms of foreign policy in this speech though, more alarming than whatever the relationship is with russia, whatever the investigation going on stateside is, the language on north korea. there was some bombast there but it was very v