and then there's richard nixon. by 1968, the perennial republican presidential wannabe had lost his last two elections, and he knew that this was his last shot. >> in 1968, he wanted that presidency so bad that he was willing to do whatever was necessary. >> this is twice as big a crowd as we had in 1960, and the result is going to be twice as good as in 1960. >> so back on fifth avenue, july 12th, we have three men in a hotel room -- a veteran politician plotting his comeback, the man running his political operation, and south vietnam's man in washington. plus one lone woman, anna chennau chennault. >> of course i had the opportunity to not only talking to the leaders but the people. >> nixon knew that anna chennault could establish a relationship between him and the south vietnamese and that just in case it became public, nixon could pretend that she was not his real envoy. >> after just ten years in washington, d.c., anna had fast-tracked her way to wealth and influence and a penthouse on top of the brand-new wat

in 1972, nixon won reelection by an historic landslide. >> i, richard nixon, do solemnly swear -- >> but the watergate story was still growing. so just weeks after the election, inside the oval office, richard nixon declared war on the press. >> the press is the enemy. the press is the enemy. the press is the enemy. >> nixon hated the press because it was digging into the very story he was desperate to hide, that the white house was deeply involved in the watergate cover-up. his campaign seemed to work. early in his second term, nixon's approval rating soared. but then came the first crack in the white house defense. in the summer of 1973, all of america was riveted by the senate watergate hearings. >> what did the president know and when did he know it? >> as the country watched, white house counsel john dean turn on his president. >> i began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency. >> dean testified the watergate burglars were blackmailing white house aides. >> the white house was now directly subject to blackmail and i didn't know how to handle i

richard nixon self-sabotaged. not because he wanted to leave office as he said, i think leaving office before the end of my term >> thank you. i'm not going to do that anymore. i was the director when it became a federal institution. richard nixon was temperamentally ill suited to be president in that he was an introvert in an extrovert's job. what he did not know, other than being sneaky and running a cover-up, which we know from the tapes he did, he actually was not very good at creating public sympathy for himself. he, unlike other presidents who have come under scrutiny, he actually with drew from the public space. there wasn't any social media, but he was a near recluse in 1974. he used surrogates to get his story out and his surrogates were not like certain surrogates in this era. they were not attack dogs. richard nixon was very sick with pneumonia, when alexander butterfield, alexander butterfield, he's the man who put the system, the taping system in the white house at the request of the president and, yo

the hill to the white house and basically told richard nixon it's all over he doesn't have the votes and by the way i'm one of the senators that's not going to vote for you so that's where it has to be and if there's that kind of support in favor of removal i'm trying to trample the industry at that point but that remains to be seen as it is a former prosecutor today the republicans said that they want to subpoena the whistleblower and they also want hunter biden and joe biden to testify what are your thoughts on that. both that all those are ridiculous i mean then 1st of all the whistleblower has nothing to add he didn't have firsthand knowledge he was told by other people what happened everything that the whistleblower has said is all the now confirmed the corroborated by other witnesses who have come forward including most importantly the transcript of the conversation between president trump and president selenski so that's just a diversion that dividing and hunter biden and stuff is precisely what trunk was trying to do it on this trying to somehow create an inference that they

say what you will about richard nixon at the end of the day. he was ashamed and apologized for his misuse of his presidential office to date there is no indication that there is anything that will shame donald trump and people about him whether it's interesting that you say that but i noticed today when mr zonen was speaking we saw new tweets coming from the president i mean it was completely quiet for the several hours when testimony was being given which is unusual for the president as a former prosecutor when you look at the evidence that's been given when you look at the testimony in your mind has there been a nuff presented for articles of impeachment to be sent from the house to the senate for trial well our constitution specifies a great grounds for impeachment of the president and one of which is bribery and i believe there's been a crime a facia case made in the absence of any defense by the president. of solicitation of a bribe that is release of the funds that were authorized by congress to the ukraine in return for a statement by th

say what you will about richard nixon at the end of the day. he was ashamed and apologized for his misuse of his presidential office to date there is no indication that there is anything that will shame donald trump and people about him whether it's interesting though you say that i noticed today when mr zonen was speaking we saw new tweets coming from the president i mean it was completely quiet for the several hours when testimony was being given which is unusual for the president as a former prosecutor when you look at the evidence that's been given when you look at the testimony in your mind has there been a nuff presented for articles of impeachment to be sent from the house to the senate for trial well our constitution specifies a great grounds for impeachment of the president and one of which is bribery and i believe there's been a prime aphasia case made in the absence of any defense by the president. of solicitation of a bride that is release of the funds that were authorized by congress to the ukraine in return for a statement by the

say what you will about richard nixon at the end of the day. he was ashamed and apologized for his misuse of his presidential office to date there is no indication that there is anything that will shame him donald trump about and whether it's interesting that you say that i noticed today when mr zonen was speaking we saw new tweets coming from the president i mean it was completely quiet for those several hours when testimony was being given which is unusual for the president as a former prosecutor when you look at the evidence that's been given when you look at the testimony in your mind has there been enough presented for articles of impeachment to be sent from the house to the senate for trial well our constitution specifies a great grounds for impeachment of the president and one of which is bribery and i believe there's been a prime aphasia case made in the absence of any defense by the president. of solicitation of a bride that is release of the funds that were authorized by congress to the ukraine in return for a statement by the ukraini

say what you will about richard nixon at the end of the day. he was ashamed and apologized for his misuse of his presidential office to date there is no indication that there is anything that will shame donald trump about and whether it's interesting that you say that i noticed today when mr zonen was speaking we saw new tweets coming from the president i mean it was completely quiet for the several hours when testimony was being given which is unusual for the president as a former prosecutor when you look at the evidence that's been given when you look at the testimony in your mind have there been enough presented for articles of impeachment to be sent from the house to the senate for trial well our constitution specifies a great grounds for impeachment of the president and one of which is bribery and i believe there's been a prime aphasia case made in the absence of any defense by the president. of solicitation of a bride that is release of the funds that were authorized by congress to the ukraine in return for a statement by the ukrainian pr

the hill to the white house and basically told richard nixon it's all over he doesn't have the votes and by the way i'm one of the senators that's not going to vote for you so that's where it has to be and if there's that kind of support in favor of removal i'm trying to trample the industry at that point but that remains to be seen as it is a former prosecutor today the republicans said that they want to subpoena the whistleblower and they also want hunter biden and joe biden to testify what are your thoughts on that. both that all those are ridiculous i mean then 1st of all the whistleblower has nothing to add he didn't have firsthand knowledge he was told by other people what happened everything that the whistleblower has said is all the now confirmed the corroborated by other witnesses who have come forward including most importantly the transcript of the conversation between president trump and president selenski so that's just a diversion the dividing and the hunter biden i'm stumped is precisely what trump was trying to do it on the strength or somehow create in for instance t

well i think what's different here is with richard nixon for example most of the evidence that the house judiciary committee had was developed by prosecutors i assume it was developed by the senate select committee investigating the watergate break in this is a situation where the house of representatives has really taken this matter right from the beginning and has developed the evidence on it and is doing it on its own without any other organisation having been involved in this beforehand so it's kind of a unique opportunity in the sense that they have total control over the evidence they know what the evidence is and they're putting it together to the public so i think it remains to be seen how this all plays out but this is the right way to do it i'd like to take a listen to part of the testimony that was given today i wrote that withholding security assistance in exchange for help with a domestic political campaign in the united states would be crazy i believe that then and i believe it now i do not believe the united states should ask other countries to engage in selective politica

the hill to the white house and basically told richard nixon it's all over he doesn't have the votes and by the way i'm one of the senators that's not going to vote for you so that's where it has to be and if there's that kind of support in favor of removal i'm trying to trample the industry at that point but that remains to be seen as it is a former prosecutor today the republicans said that they want to subpoena the whistleblower and they also want hunter biden and joe biden to testify what are your thoughts on that. both that all those are ridiculous i mean then 1st of all the whistleblower has nothing to add he didn't have firsthand knowledge he was told by other people what happened everything that the whistleblower is said is all to now confirm the corroborated by other witnesses who have come forward including most importantly the transcript of the conversation between president trump and president selenski so that's just a diversion that dividing and hunter biden and stuff is precisely what trump was trying to do it on this trying to somehow create an inference that they did

say what you will about richard nixon at the end of the day. he was ashamed and apologized for his misuse of his presidential office to date there is no indication that there is anything that will shame him donald trump about and whether it's interesting that you say that i noticed today when mr zonen was speaking we saw new tweets coming from the president i mean it was completely quiet for the several hours when testimony was being given which is unusual for the president as a former prosecutor when you look at the evidence that's been given when you look at the testimony in your mind has there been a nuff presented for articles of impeachment to be sent from the house to the senate for trial well our constitution specifies a great grounds for impeachment of the president and one of which is bribery and i believe there's been a crime a facia case made in the absence of any defense by the president. of solicitation of a bribe that is release of the funds that were authorized by congress to the ukraine in return for a statement by the ukrainian

point out richard nixon and his nose. too tired with johnson and opinion polls done at the time, they basically asked the survey respondents, do you trust the government to do the right thing unless cases? that number at the john kennedy/lyndon johnson level is bumping up at 80%. by the time we get to richard nixon, it is dropping down while below the 50's and into the 20's, so we see this precipitous drop. the noses in these cartoons are indicating in the american public that faith in the government and presidency -- the sense that these authoritative leaders are lying to us. has become ingrained in american culture. it is the political cartoonist that let us know this ahead of time that we should listen more. >> nixon's great advantage, when it came to the vietnam issue in 1968, was that he was able to say i am not this and i am not that. i am not going to be the president who got us into a war, and deeper and deeper into a war, and now cannot seem to find any way out of it. i am also not going to be one of those dovish

in 1972, nixon won re-election by a historic landslide. >> i, richard nixon, do solemnly swear -- >> but the watergate story was still growing. so just weeks after the election, inside the oval office, richard nixon declared war on the press. >> the press is the enemy. the press is the enemy. the press is the enemy. >> nixon hated the press because it was digging into the very story that he was desperate to hide, that the white house was deeply involved in the watergate cover-up. his campaign seemed to work early in his second term, nixon's approval rating soared. but then came the first crack. in the white house defense. in the summer of 1973, all of america was riveted by the senate watergate hearings. >> what did the president know and when did he know it? >> as the country watched white house counsel john dean turned on his president. >> i began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency. >> dean testified that the watergate burglars were blackmailing white house aides. >> the white house was being subjected to blackmail. i told him i could only ma

in 1972, nixon won re-election by a historic landslide. >> i, richard nixon, do solemnly swear -- >> but the watergate story was still growing. so just weeks after the election, inside the oval office, richard nixon declared war on the press. >> the press is the enemy. the press is the enemy. the press is the enemy. nixon hated the press because it was digging into the very story that he was desperate to hide, that the white house was deeply involved in the watergate coverup. el his campaign seemed to work. then came the first cram in the defense. in the summer of 1973 all of america was riveted by the senate watergate hearings. >> what did the president know and when did he know it? >> as the country watched white house counsel john dean turned on his president. >> i began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency. >> dean testified that the watergate burglars were blackmailing white house aides. >> the white house was now being directly shouldn't to blackmail and i didn't know how to handle it. >> i told him that i could only make an estimate that i

the hill to the white house and basically told richard nixon it's all over he doesn't have the votes and by the way i'm one of the senators that's not going to vote for you so that's where it has to be and if there's that kind of support in favor of removal. truck trample the history at that point but that remains to be seen as it is a former prosecutor today the republicans said that they want to subpoena the whistleblower and they also want hunter biden and joe biden to testify what are your thoughts on that. both that all those are ridiculous i mean then 1st of all the whistleblower has nothing to add he didn't have firsthand knowledge he was told by other people what happened everything that the whistleblower has said is all to now confirm the corroborated by other witnesses who have come forward including most importantly the transcript of the conversation between president trump and president zelinsky so that's just a diversion that dividing and hunter biden and stuff is precisely what trump was trying to do it on this trying to somehow create an inference that they did somethi

tomorrow. >> reporter: richard nixon's case iobvolveruction of justice and abuse of power. and it's that abuse of power element of the watergate story current discussion oft in the impeachment. dig through some ose issueso you made in a bit more detail. brenda wineapple, ver to you. tell us the story of andrew johnson and his impeachment proceedings. >> johnson wasea imped just three years after the civil war. and when you think about what was going on then-- the country was in need, desperate need of putting itself back together again. you had a chief executive whogn as himself the role of not so much peacemaker, but a person who restored the south or wanted to restore the south tots former supremacy, which was white supremacy. and it wasn't a question of rieason or bbery. t when andrew johnson actually broke a law that congress had passed in order toeign hi in so that johnson would execute the laws of congress, which really restored civil rights and finally voting rights to black men in the south, to give them representation in the country, when johnson broke that law, th

it's interesting that nancy pelosi is making the comparison to richard nixon. whateversaying happened in that call, whether or not there was withholding of aid, that is the president's right to do that. everything has shifted in the past week. hearingsow gone to that will be held in public. the democrats are figured how they are going to go about this. the republicans are starting to hunchback and say -- hunchback -- punch back and say the president has every right to withhold aid. allegations. the is talk about richard nixon. ins is going to be right president trump's wheelhouse. he is going to enjoy that comparison. host: we are talking with the white house correspondent for the washington examiner. you talked to president trump in the oval office. he was behind the resolute desk. the president wants to read the transcript of that phone call and do so as a sort of fireside chat on live telev call and do so as a sort of fireside like thursday when they were talking about how to hunchback on this. -- punch back on this. house democrats put forward their plan of

in 1972 nixon won re-election by a historic landslide. >> i, richard nixon, do solemnly swear -- >> but the watergate story was still growing. so just weeks after the election, inside the oval office, richard nixon declared war on the press. >> the press is the enemy. the press is the enemy. the press is the enemy. >> nixon hated the press because it was digging into the very story he was desperate to hide. that the white house was deeply involved in the watergate cover-up. his campaign seemed to work. early in his second term nixon's approval rating soared. but then came the first crack in the white house defense. in the summer of 1973, all of america was riveted by the senate watergate hearings. >> what did the president know, and when did he know it? >> as the country watched, white house counsel john dean turned on his president. >> i began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency. >> dean testified that the watergate burglars were blackmailing white house aides. >> the white house was now being directly subject to blackmail, and i didn't know how t

i will point out richard nixon and his nose. too tired with johnson and opinion polls done at the time, they basically asked the survey respondents, do you trust the government to do the right thing unless cases? the johner at kennedy/lyndon johnson level is bumping up at 80%. by the time we get to richard nixon, it is dropping down while below the 50's and into the 20's, so we see this precipitous drop. the noses in these cartoons are indicating in the american public that faith in the thernment and presidency -- sense that these authoritative leaders are lying to us. it is the political cartoonist that let us know this ahead of time that we should listen more. >> to nixon's great advantage, when it came to the vietnam issue in 1968, he was able to say i am not this and i am not that. i am not going to be the president who got us into a war, and deeper and deeper into a war, and now cannot seem to find any way out of it. i am also not going to be one of who, asvish politicians he would put it, cuts and runs. i don't know that n

on richard nixon, timothy naftali joins us. he is a pfessor at new york university and former director of theichard nixon presidential library, and he also coauthored "impeachment: an ry."ican his and for andrew johnson, brenda she is the author of "the impeachers," the trial of andren johnsothe dream of a just nation. u,k th o ayoofll yo yu.fo backward go kind of in time here. if you had to give sort of aor 90-second hi lesson on what the story of b bill clinton's impeachment was about, how would do you that? >> well, it's hard to do in0 seconds, but we'll give it a try. look, president clhtnton got cap in a sex scandal. he was being accuse of of sexual harassment in a lawsuit, and as part of that lawsuit he was asked to testify abo his relationship with other women. he lied about a relatiohip f withrmer intern named monica lewinsky. >> i did not hve sexual relations with thatoman, miss lewinskyou >> and the hse ultimately impeached him along party lines for perjury and obstruction of justice. >> i hereby deliver these article

to richard nixon and the watergate party, it was a war. >> it was a war with a fifth column. i had a partisan senate committee staff, special prosecutor staff, media, partisan judiciary. fifth column. i gave them the sword and they stuck it in and they twisted it with relish. >> the real story of the war nixon describes is one that few americans know. it's a story of a small group of men who turned impeachment into an act of patriotism. it all begins on june 17th, 1972. >> five men were arrested early saturday while trying to install eavesdropping equipment at the democratic national committee. >> why was someone breaking into the democrat's campaign offices? >> i, again, proudly accept that nomination for president of the united states. >> well, richard nixon won the presidency in 1968 by promising to get america out of vietnam. ♪ ♪ >> are you listening, nixon? ♪ ♪ >> but as the war dragged on, the anti-war movement exploded. as nixon campaigned for a second term, he feared vietnam might give his enemies the ammunition to defeat him and so his men planned a series of

it was more than 100 years later when it took place against richard nixon. now this is the third impeachment inquiry over the last 45 years, with richard nixon, bill clinton, and now donald trump. host: the political system has weaponized impeachment. impeachment has become a political tool, and that has become a problem, a huge problem. what are we going to do next as a people? are we going to destroy ourselves? because khrushchev once said, we will bury you. not mean he directly. he meant we would destroy ourselves, and we are destroying ourselves. host: take a look at "the wall street journal" editorial, because they conclude that. telling the caller to get a life. politico.com, the white house trying to protect calm -- trying to project calm even as the gop launches a counteroffensive. that is the headline. within the white house on wednesday, quickly settling on biggest sin of democrats as they -- they were boring. president trump said he was not even watching, too busy with other important work. onice is keeping an eye muted tv's, but they dismissed th

and they wanted peace at any price. >> richard nixon was elected to end a war. this mud bath started long ago, and we are a part of it. and it will continue daily as long as the war continues. >> despite the fact that many members of congress were making great noises against the war and despite the fact that the media was overwhelmingly against the war, that was not the voice of america. the voice of america was the silent majority. >> teresa nixon and edward cox will be married tomorrow. >> the women in my life have all been remarkable. i have always sort of prided myself on self-control, and i am emotional. but i don't believe you should share emotions. i'm a great believer in privacy. >> hello. >> that wedding was just great. >> you've got to give pat and tricia the credit. they really worked in that white house staff. weren't they great? >> that's really superb. >> hello? >> yes, sir. >> nothing else of interest in the world. just "new york times" expose of the most highly classified points of the war. this is a devastating security breech of the greatest ma

nor could they know as you were saying a moment ago the fact that richard nixon was taping most of his private conversations, which would completely alter the outcome of the case. >> one of the things i learned tonight looking at that old news foot objectf the way the first day the hearings were covered in watergate is that at least according to the white house, richard nixon didn't watch. he didn't have a tv setup in the part of the white house he was spending his time at the time the hearings were on. the white house made clear, went out of their way to say he was working on much more important things and wasn't going to spend time engaged in this watergate circus. i wonder if looking back on that if fhistorians feel the nixon administration was out of sync not paying attention to how much those hearings had on the country and the perses of nixon himself. >> i think that's right, although i think nixon watched more than people were claiming. even in support of that theory it was mentioned that charles degall did not have a telephone in his office in paris, so nixon was sort of emulat

nor could they know as you were saying a moment ago the fact that richard nixon was taping most of his private conversations, which would completely alter the outcome of the case. >> michael, one of the things i learned tonight looking at that old news footage of the way the first day of the hearings were covered in watergate was that at least according to the white house richard nixon didn't watch. that he didn't have a tv set up in the part of the white house where he was spending his time at the time the hearings were on. the white house made clear, went out of their way to say he was working on much more important things and wasn't going to be spending time engaged in this watergate circus. >> right. >> i wonder if look back on that if historians feel like the nixon administration was sort of out of sync or not paying close enough attention to recognize the impact those hearings were >> i think that's right. although nixon probably watched a little bit more than people were claiming. he was trying to suggest that he was not being affected and even in support of that theory it was m

or, as richard nixon would call them, the silent majority. in what we see in agnew as a walking talking personification of the silent majority is that while on the outside the experience looked very comfortable, tv in the living room, air conditioning works cars in the garage, that for many of these middle class strivers life felt precarious and unstable. as the sociologist william white wrote somewhere lies the good life but it vanishes as quickly as one finds it. agnew himself, in the early '60s, said the following. in our homes, we are bombarded with demands. watch this show. read that book. listen to this program. attend that meeting. go to this lecture. take that course. join this club. play with the children. mow the lawn. fix the screen. the list seems endless. it was, he added. it is no wonder we feel harassed and frustrated. we barely have time to think. so in response -- and this is key for our view of agnew. in his political career then spiro agnew offered moral clarity and utter certainty. he must be right, he's so certain, that s

. >> nothing less than richard nixon's presidency may ride on whether the world believes john dean or not. >> most republicans continued to stand by their president. but then, from a little known white house aide, a dramatic twist. >> my name is alexander butterfield. >> mr. butterfield, are you aware of the installation of any

nixon to impeach him. >> more than they had against richard nixon, do you agree? >> i'm not sure what period in the investigations john is referring to. there was an enormous amount of information that the house judiciary committee compiled. it was material from the set of watergate hearings from the watergate special prosecution force and the taerls that the hughes judiciary collected on its own. there was a mountain of information. and it wasn't just about one episode. it was about all kinds of abuse of power and obstruction of justice. i would think at the noemt that the house judiciary committee and the committees that spoker pelosi has asked to participate don't have the same material they did in 1973/'74. what they do have is striking information that gets at the core of abuse of power and possibly bribery. >> if the fact same kirks happen circumstances released, would a single republican vote to impeach? >> ana, pardon my idealism. but i spent some time getting to understand the information that the republicans and conservative democrats had when they decid

i mean, what the president did was so much worse than even what richard nixon did that at some point richard nixon cared about the country must have to recognize that this could not continue, the intelligence committee is leading this part of the inquiry, there are other depositions that are being taken by more committees, so some of the depositions will continue and then what takes place in the intelligence public will continue for another week. i don't know how much longer, i guess it depends on how many more witnesses they have. that's up to the committee o i don't drive that. that's up to the committee. >> brennan: do you expect that to be wrapped up before the end of the year? >> i have no idea. again, i don't have -- >> brennan: no timetable for that? >> no. i mean, it is self ever evident that we have open hearings for the next week. i don't know of any beyond that, then we are out for thanksgiving, it doesn't mean depositions couldn't be taken during that time, and then when we come back. >back. >> by then maybe a decision or maybe they have more hearings and then i have six

nixon mr ackerman is in new york for tonight's and he joins me from there was talk of him welcome to the program. when you look at what has been report under reported from the depositions that have been offered so far what do you think is the case for impeachment now clear cut yeah i think it's pretty clear cut the congress makes it pretty clear the president i mean the constitution makes it clear that president can be impeached and then removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors and bribery and we can see a clear case of bribery i would donald trump holding back the funds that were procreated by congress for the defense of ukraine holding back a visit to the white house in return and both is this is for an investigation into the bidens on mr trump's chief political rival in the upcoming election so it seems to me this is a pretty clear case as it is now and the congress over the last 3 or 4 weeks has developed a pretty strong factual basis to move forward on. the year you say that it's clear cut but not a single republican voted to make the impeachment process formal today

nixon mr ackerman is in new york for tonight's and he joins me from there mr ackerman welcome to the program when you look at what has been report under reported from the depositions that have been offered so far what do you think is the case for impeachment now clear cut. yeah i think it's pretty clear cut the congress makes it pretty clear that a president under the constitution makes it clear that a president can be impeached and then removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors and bribery and we can be a clear case of bribery i would donald trump holding back the funds that were perpetrated by congress for the defense of ukraine holding back a visit to the white house in return and both as this is for an investigation into the biden's a mr trump's chief political rival in the upcoming election so it seems to me this is a pretty clear case as it is now and the congress over the last 3 or 4 weeks has developed a pretty strong actual basis to move forward on. in the year you say that it's clear cut but not a single republican voted to make the impeachment process formal tod

nixon mr ackerman is in new york for tonight's and he joins me from there mr ackerman welcome to the program. when you look at what has been reported reported from the depositions that have been offered so far what do you think is the case for impeachment now clear cut. yeah i think it's pretty clear cut the congress makes it pretty clear that a president of the constitution makes it clear that a president can be impeached and then removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors and bribery and we kept a clear case of bribery i would donald trump holding back the funds that were perpetrated by congress for the defense of ukraine holding back a visit to the white house in return and both is this is for an investigation into the bidens on mr trump's chief political rival in the upcoming election so it seems to me this is a pretty clear case as it is now and the congress over the last 3 or 4 weeks has developed a pretty strong actual basis to move forward on this. in a year you say that it's clear cut but not a single republican voted to make the impeachment process formal today wh

there was clinton lying under oath, richard nixon basically covering up a burglary at the democratic national committee headquarters. so, when you have a crime it's different. what is the crime exactly that president trump is alleged to have committed? if you don't have a crime, what is this impeachment really all about. if we really want to find out what happened in ukraine

by comparison for richard nixon, it was 93 days before they had public hearings. we're starting to get a clearer picture on the way of how republicans intend to fight back against allegations the president attempted to use foreign aid as a bargaining chip to get a foreign power to investigate his political rivals. they include denying the allegation, downplaying its seriousness, attacking the whistle-blower and other witnesses and turning the focus on democrats, especially the bidens. now, the further that lawmakers proceed along the path of impeachment, the more the proceedings look back to watergate, when republicans stood by their president until they did not in the end, at least some. republicans stood by richard nixon, as you might remember, at the start of the impeachment inquiry, february 1974. it was not until maryland congressman lawrence hogan sr., a republican on the house judiciary committee, he announced on july 23rd that he would vote to impeach. two weeks later, president richard nixon announced his resignation, having lost the support of his party

this is right after richard nixon announced as a republican candidate for president, that he will end the war and win the peace in vietnam. he's presenting himself as a dove, after supporting every hawkish escalation of the war up until that point. captures that it the commentary at the time and for years afterwards didn't capture, just how impossible it would be for any of the candidates to come up with a satisfactory outcome in vietnam. nixon was trying to avoid saying he would win the war, because he knew he could not do that and it would not be credible. and really didn't have much of a plan for ending it, or winning the peace, as we will get into a little later. so the idea of him scrambling to sort of pull a rabbit out of a hat is perfect, i think. i want to draw everyone's attention to the facial expression on the rabbit. [laughter] jaded, butd as others might take a different way. one really curious. when i thought of the phrase xon," i neverni thought of a magician. i thought of someone who did other kinds of tricks. the problem with richard nixon, i always thought, was not t

as lawyers during the impeachment inquiry of president richard nixon. >> it does call to you while you're in the house to examine abuses of power. be as careful as he was. yourself from grandstanding and holding news conferences playing to your base. this goes way beyond whose side you are on or who's on your side. past onre our nation's american history tv, every weekend on c-span3. american history tv products are now available at the c-span online store. isto c-span.org to see what new for american history tv and check out all of the c-span products. 1979 to 1981, 52 americans were held hostage in the u.s. embassy in tehran. next, the wilson center hosts a panel discussing how the iran hostage crisis has impacted u.s. foreign policy since then. >> good morning. welcome to the wilson center. my name is christian osterman, and i have the privilege to direct the history and public policy program here at the center. thank you for joining us today for this panel discussion on

as richard nixon would call them, the silent majority. agnew is that while on the outside the experience looked very comfortable. but for many of these felte-class, life precarious and unstable. as was written at the time butwhere lies the good life it vanishes as quickly as one finds it. agnew himself said the following. in our homes, we are imparted by demands -- bombarded by demands. club,hat book join that play with the children, the list seems endless. harassedwonder we feel and frustrated, we barely have time to think. , in his political career, spiro agnew offered moral clarity and utter certainty. you must be right, he is so certain. with the a chord nervous middle-class of the 1960's. but. a corollary that if things did not go his way, there must have been trickery and under handedness involved. on thelate 50's, he sat baltimore county board of appeals. it dealt with matters such as zoning pursuits. it's actually a very important position. in 1961, baltimore county council decided not to reappoint agnew to the board. while he bla

what the president did was so much worse than even what richard nixon did. at some point, richard nixon cared about the country enough to recognize that this could not continue. >> transcripts of another closed door testimony have been released. the subject is jennifer williams. aide to mike pence. she was on the call between president trump and president zelensky. williams testified she found the call "unusual." and inappropriate. and said it shed some light on other possible motivations behind a security assistance hold. including president trump's personal political agenda. >>> tonight, city leaders in contra costa and alameda counties are joining forces to try to saver the medical center in berkeley. they said the plan to close the hospital could be a major health risk for people living nearby. sutter health plans to shut down the hospital by 2030 instead of doing a required seismic retro fit. then it plans to move all the base's emergency services to its summit hospital campus in oakland about three miles away. >> there will be no maternity services bet

and only -- there were only four people voting with richard nixon. so all the rest of the republicans in 1974 voted against richard nixon. memorably, there was a young house freshman from maine named william cohen who later became a defense secretary, and became a senator, and bill cohen withstood all kinds of pressure from the judiciary committee to vote against richard nixon. there were so many people standing up and looking at the evidence. and here you see this party line vote which basically means there was no persuasion at all. >> no conviction, andrea. i think you can make the case that we're looking at a modern republican party without virtue in this moment. and the reason they're making arguments that the process is illegitimate is they're scared to come face-to-face with their own dignity. they know what the president did was wrong. they don't want to have to confront that moment particularly in a political environment where the president is able to put so much pressure on these rank and file republican members. and, you know, there's basel

eastern on oral histories from the richard nixon presidential library, hillary rodham clinton and william weld on their experiences as house judiciary committee lawyers during the impeachment inquiry of president richard nixon. >> if it does fall to you while you're in the house to examine abuses of power by the president and be as circumspect and careful as john dore was, restrain yourself from grandstanding and holding news conferences, and playing to your base. this goes well beyond whose side is on. >> explore our nation's past on american history tv every weekend on c-span3. >> the impeachment inquiries continue next week when house judiciary committee gerald nadler holds the committee's first impeachment inquiry meeting on president trump, focusing on the constitution and the history of impeachment. watch our live coverage wednesday december 4th at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. chairman nadler extended an invitation for the president and his counsel to appear before the committee and read the letter to the president on our website, c-span.org/impeachment and follow the impeachment

i mean, what the president did was so much worse than even what richard nixon did. but at some point, richard nixon cared about the country enough to recognize that this could not continue. >> reporter: it seems pretty unlikely that the president would follow richard nixon out the door, at least at this stage of the investigation. both parties are pumping the brakes on this, it's even unlikely written answers would be submitted. one democrat said you ought to let mick mulvaney and john bolton come testify. for republicans who tried to dismiss this as a witch hunt and beneath the dignity of the office, democrats up to this point have not even particularly aggressively pursued, would go counter to what they were trying to do, by saying this whole thing is a sham. it seems pretty unlikely. >> who is testifying this week, garret? >> reporter: big week this week. eight witnesses will appear over three days. you'll hear from three separate white house staffers who all listened to that july 25th phone call. i think that's noteworthy, especially as how republicans dismissed

richard nixon was in office for a full year. we have the tapes, looking at it, and yet they couldn't quite get the apparatus going. but they were very meticulous about it. when they finally got around to the supreme court saying you've got to give up the tapes, by then a bilateral position was on the hill and ready to initiate impeachment. but he, in fact, resigned before all of that happened. the other thing is different then. we're on the air two or three times a day. we're not now 24/7. it wasn't that kind of constant thing going on. watching today for what it's worth i thought the most dramatic moment was that cheap shot the president made about her and her experience in somalia. i've been in somalia. it's one of the most dangerous places in the world. it was the home of black hawk down. for him to kind of throw that off, here's a guy who goes home to mar-a-lago at night, and she was out there in really tough places. but at the same time you have to remember that impeachment is a procedure that the rest of the country also h

richard nixon was in office for a full year. we have the tapes, looking at it, and yet they couldn't quite get the apparatus going. but they were very meticulous about it. when they finally got around to the supreme court saying you've got to give up the tapes, by then a bilateral position was on the hill and ready to initiate impeachment. but he, in fact, resigned before that happened. the other thing that's different then, we were on the air two or three times a day. we weren't on the air 24/7. it wasn't that kind of constant thing going on. watching today for what it's worth i thought the most dramatic moment was that cheap shot the president made about her and her experience in somalia. i've been in somalia. it's one of the most dangerous places in the world. it was the home of black hawk down. for him to though that off, here's a guy who goes home to mar-a-lago at night, and she's out there in really tough places. but at the same time you have to remember that impeachment is a procedure that the rest of the country also has

richard nixon broke into the dnc to help his reelection. donald trump not only in 2016 but now in 2020 looking to get aid from ukraine investigations into biden, his political rival. there are a lot of parallels here. by the way the mueller report maybe you've heard about it. a lot of people sitting if jail today and roger stone getting convicted on seven counts last week having to do with trump and things they tried to do to help him in the 2016 election and draw a strit line to what happened. >> i've known roger for 40 years. he walked himself into a impeachment. he was a trump person. >> bill: walked himself into -- not impeachment. >> into conviction. had nothing to do. the president had nothing to do with any of this stuff. at the end of the day you can go back and say richard nixon could have beat george mcgovern with a single yard sign. i don't think biden will be a strong candidate and i don't think that's the issue. >> it's not the strengths of the sy it's the actions you take to help you >> you have to prove you. no one has proven

. >> what about his endorsement of richard nixon. i told him i was ten years old. it was my first discussion with him about politics. my fifth grade teacher asked us to go find out who our father was voting for.y i went home and head that discussion with my dad i learned about integrity and commitment and he have made a commitment to richard nixon but thankfully he did not support him the second time around and he learned that he was again a listen to him very early in the campaign. kennedy did not look him them in the eye and explained to me about trust and how you establish trust with somebody. in the voting records were not there. he have a chance to work on equality and justice issues and he have done it. we continue to have those discussionse right up until when we went out with my family in san francisco. the republican convention. the entire family wentt and dad was there at rockefeller they walked in they have to regroup. we drove back across country and we literally stopped off at rockefeller ranch. so he and dad could sit on the tporch and say the republi

nixon i remember richard after he lost to john kennedy. he held a press conference and said i will never criticize anyone for going to florida, hyannis port, or taking time off . is not a 9-to-5 job where you come into an office. it is decision-making. ute noecisions bear on matter where you are or where you go. wherever the president goes, the twitter handle is not far from him. what are your thoughts on the president's twitter habits? guest: my thoughts don't matter. if i was advising him, he never would have been elected president, so what do i know? i think his communication is transformational. i think he has gone somewhere you can't come back from. that will always be a tool for future presidents, pretty amazing, direct communication with the people. while it is crude and has rough edges, it is comforting and awake. i worked for multiple presidents. i knew many of the presidents. they are very careful about what they say. george w. bush was fascinating, great sense of humor and a wonderful guy, but you would ask him a question or i w

i mean, what the president did was so much worse than even what richard nixon did. at some point, richard nixon cared about the country enough to recognize that this could not continue. >> ninan: and, ben, just a short time ago we got some transcripts of those closed door testimony of an aide to vice president mike pence. it was just released. >> reporter: her name was jennifer williams, and she was on the july 25 call between president trump and president zelensky. now, in the triment of her testimony, she testified that she found the call unusual and inappropriate. she said the president's personal political agenda may have been a factor in withholding that military aid from ukraine. she also said that the word "burisma" was used on the call. that's significant, because that is the energy company that joe biden's son hunter was working for. but in the official call summary released by the white house last month, burisma is not mentioned. reena. >> ninan: ben tracy at the white house. thank you, ben. the impeachment inquiry continues next week. cbs news will have s

likemeans it will be more the impeachment of andrew johnson than richard nixon. that was the gold standard ironically because he resigned, but it was such a strong case that he did resign. it was broad, had a lot of different types of criminal conduct and a very developed record. this is more like andrew johnson. articles in that impeachment, but they were based on the tenure in office act and the firing of the secretary of war. it failed in the u.s. senate of course. it is a concern, if you want to see tricksy removed instead of see --if you really want to prostate removed, instead of impeached. host: compare this to the recent effort, the clinton impeachment, was that narrow or wide? guest: it was narrow. i testified as part of the hearing of experts on the impeachment standard and it was narrow. there's one big difference, and that is clinton was accused of a criminal act. a judge later said that he clearly did commit perjury and that is something that thousands of people have gone to jail for. even though it was narrow, it had a strong criminal element. i thi