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Renowned journalist Carl Bernstein stated that U.S. President Donald Trump's call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger should be considered a criminal act and is "far worse" than the Watergate scandal that terminated the presidency of Richard Nixon.
Bernstein said Sunday during an appearance on CNN, "It's not deja vu. This is something far worse than occurred in Watergate. We have both a criminal president of the United States in Donald Trump and a subversive president of the United States."
According to audio published Sunday by The Washington Post, Trump is heard on the phone call with Raffensperger on Saturday pressuring the Secretary of state to "find" enough votes to grant him the state's presidential electoral college votes.
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On the call, Trump can be heard saying: "All I want to do is this ... I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state."
Bernstein, along with Washington Post colleague Bob Woodward worked on the journalistic investigation into the Watergate affair during Richard Nixon's presidency. He called the phone call between Trump and Raffensperger, "the ultimate smoking gun."
Suggesting Trump should resign, Bernstein asserted: "It is the tape of the evidence of what this president is willing to do to undermine the electoral system and illegally, improperly and immorally instigate a coup."
Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein:
— Adam Schwarz (@AdamJSchwarz) January 3, 2021
"In any other conceivable moment in our history, this tape would result in the leadership of both parties calling for the resignation of the President of the United States immediately."#TrumpTapes #ImpeachTrump pic.twitter.com/RzWil1mzgx
"In any other presidency, this tape would be enough to result in the impeachment of the president of the United States and really an immediate call by the members of Congress including of his own party that he resign immediately," Bernstein said.
While some congressional Democrats have also called for Trump's resignation over the call, several Republican lawmakers have supported Trump's assertions of a "rigged" election, indicating they will contest the election's result when Congress meets this week to certify the results officially.
In the past, Bernstein made comparisons between Trump and Nixon, suggesting in 2019 the Ukraine scandal that resulted in Trump's impeachment was "somewhat equivalent" to Watergate.
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