Stretching credibility
Not since the days of Richard Nixon claiming a transcription error by his personal secretary accidentally erased 18 1/2 minutes of an Oval Office Watergate-related conversation has the federal government strained so much to hide a coverup.
The newest version of the Rosemary Woods “stretch” comes in the form of the Trump “Justice” Department failing to include some key materials related to a woman who accused Trump of physical and sexual assault. The omission was first reported by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger and subsequently confirmed by a number of other news outlets.
“The materials are FBI memos summarizing interviews the bureau did in connection to claims made in 2019 by a woman who came forward after Epstein’s arrest to say she had been sexually assaulted by both Trump and the financier decades earlier, when she was a minor.”
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche insisted that all relevant information has been released after a three-million page document dump. The only exceptions, he declared, involved duplicates, claims of legal privilege or ongoing investigations.
Blanche initially claimed more than six-million items — including videos and photos were contained in the files. The Epstein Files Transparency Act limited redactions to protecting sensitive information involving survivors.
But in a continuing example of the sloppiness in handling the files — names and nude images of victims were released — the legal eagles published an index listing the investigative materials related to the unnamed woman’s account. That index showed the FBI conducted four interviews and wrote summaries about each one.
But only one of the summaries, which describes her accusations against Epstein, was released. The other three, which likely related to her allegations against Trump, seem to be missing.
As MSNOW has reported the allegations appeared in both an FBI presentation and a spreadsheet of unconfirmed tips. Both now missing.
“A third FBI document — an internal email — stated that “salacious information” about Trump, among others, appeared in the “JE file,” and that “one identified victim claimed abuse by Trump but ultimately refused to cooperate.” MS NOW cannot confirm that the “identified victim” referred to in that email is the Trump accuser referenced above.”
DOJ has issued three separate statements, falling back on the initial excuses before saying they are conducting a new review to see what, if anything, can be released.
Oopsie.
The one question that always pops to the surface is why, if as Trump claims he has been “totally exonerated” in the burgeoning scandal, is he working so hard at preventing proof of his innocence to emerge.
And this coverup is going nowhere near as well as the one to hide special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump snatching and grabbing classified documents as he fled the White House on January 20, 2021.
It brings to mind how Nixon’s Watergate coverup started to fall apart after an aide revealed the existence of a secret Oval Office taping system. As part of a “modified limited hangout” Nixon and his aides insisted they would not release the tapes — only transcripts.
But one of those tapes contain a mysterious gap — a patch of buzzes and clicks of missing audio — in the middle of a recording made June 20, 1972, three days after the break-in.
Woods testified in front of a federal grand jury in 1974 that she was using a Dictaphone, which had a pedal that would pause recording when she lifted her foot off it, and claimed she had erased part of the tape by mistake. The reenactment of that “gaffe” became part of Watergate lore.
In the words of assistant Watergate special prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks:
“The whole history of Watergate is a Marx Brothers routine, You have a ridiculous break-in with so many errors that they got caught red-handed and … it is absurd, and yet facts are facts.”
Watergate, it should be recalled, was all about a sloppy break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee in an effort wiretap phones and steal documents to ensure Nixon won the 1972 presidential election. Something he did by winning 49 states, a campaign that could well have been the origin of the phrase “Dems in disarray.”
But Watergate can also be called the spiritual predecessor of the Republican effort to win the 2020 election, by hook or by crook, an effort Smith has shown was orchestrated by Trump and culminated in the failed January 6th coup attempt.
The big difference between Watergate and the current Trump cabals is the United States had a working Congress that investigated the break-in and coverup — and a Supreme Court that didn’t give Nixon immunity from criminal prosecution and ordered him to release the tapes.
And unlike the current supine Republican majority, GOP congressional leaders who told Nixon to resign or face impeachment and conviction for his crimes.
Mark Twain was correct: “History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”