A private chat President Donald Trump had with FBI director James Comey about ending an FBI probe is nothing at all like the Watergate scandal that sank Richard Nixon, veteran investigative reporter and bestselling political author Ronald Kessler tells Newsmax TV.
"When it comes to the Comey material, these comparisons to Watergate are a joke," Kessler said Wednesday on Newsmax's "America Talks Live" with Bill Tucker.
"Comey was not asked by Donald Trump to stop the investigation. Trump did not take any action to interrupt the investigation. He allegedly asked if it could be stopped, but that's quite different from actually obstructing justice, which is what happened in Watergate."
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On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that before Trump fired Comey saying he was no longer trustworthy, he had asked the FBI chief to drop an investigation into national security adviser Mike Flynn.
"Richard Nixon, the president, made up some story about the CIA keeping secrets and therefore the FBI should not continue the Watergate investigation. That was obstruction of justice. Also, Nixon fired the Watergate special prosecutor. That was obstruction of justice," said Kessler, who worked at The Washington Post.
"I remember sitting near [Watergate reporter Bob] Woodward when he came over and told me that he found out that E. Howard Hunt, one of the Watergate plotters, had an office in the White House. He was absolutely astounded.
"That's the kind of real Watergate that these people have no idea what they're talking about when they compare it to Donald Trump."
Kessler, author of the book, "The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents," published by Crown Forum, is also concerned that Comey hadn't revealed his conversation with Trump earlier.
"That's the bottom line, the fact that he didn't report it indicates that he didn't feel it was obstruction of justice and it wasn't, by any definition," Kessler said.
"To obstruct justice you have to actually impede the investigation, take action to stop the investigation, or cover up or destroy evidence. Any of those things. None of which Donald Trump did. So it's a wild media frenzy that's going on."
Kessler also criticized the media for reporting on allegations that Trump gave classified information about the fight against the Islamic State during a meeting with Russian officials at the Oval Office — data it later reported on in detail.
"The Washington Post did responsibly decide not to reveal some of the details of the CIA and NSA requested them to conceal, but now the rest of the media is blabbing about it," Kessler said.
"At the same time, they're beating their chest and saying that Trump is the one who made the improper disclosures, and yet they're the ones who are making it public for the whole world to see."
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