Bob Schieffer explains recent comparisons between Presidents Trump and Nixon — Transcript

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1. 0:00well the firing of James Comey has drawn
2. 0:02some comparisons to the actions of our
3. 0:0437th president Richard Nixon CBS News
4. 0:06contributor Bob Sheaffer covered the
5. 0:08Nixon Administration among many others
6. 0:10during his career Bob we got to ask you
7. 0:13Democrats say the timing of comey's
8. 0:15firing is suspicious because of the
9. 0:17ongoing Russia investigation calling the
10. 0:19move nixonian is that a fair assessment
11. 0:22well I think there are parallels to
12. 0:25Watergate the first one I think of is I
13. 0:27remember back during the Nixon
14. 0:28Administration while while Watergate was
15. 0:30going on I can't tell you how many times
16. 0:34a spokesman would come out and say this
17. 0:36is all a figment of the press's
18. 0:38imagination uh we're not focusing on
19. 0:41that at the Nixon White House we're
20. 0:43spending our time getting the people's
21. 0:46work done we're not focusing on this
22. 0:48well of course as we now know they were
23. 0:50spending every minute of every day
24. 0:53focusing how to get the president out of
25. 0:55this and how to get past that so I guess
26. 0:58in that way there are some parallels but
27. 1:01you know I've got to tell you uh when I
28. 1:03think about this I think all the way
29. 1:05back to the Kennedy assassination as you
30. 1:07know I was there right I have always
31. 1:10felt that had Lee Harvey Oswald been put
32. 1:13on trial many of these conspiracy
33. 1:16theories that are still you know ver
34. 1:19rever reverberating around the world
35. 1:21today many of those things would have
36. 1:24been put to rest uh I think in this case
37. 1:28Donald Trump has has to put this to rest
38. 1:31he has to put the American people at
39. 1:33ease it's going to take more than tweets
40. 1:36saying I didn't do anything wrong uh but
41. 1:39he's got to put this behind him if he
42. 1:42doesn't it is going to dog him for the
43. 1:45rest of his term and it could bring the
44. 1:47government to a complete stop look at
45. 1:49what's happened this week it's all
46. 1:52people in Washington are focusing on
47. 1:55right now is this thing and he's got a
48. 1:58lot of things he says he wants to do
49. 2:00he needs to basically open up the books
50. 2:04give people proof show them why if these
51. 2:08things are not true and he's not
52. 2:10involved show them why that's not true
53. 2:13this will not sustain as it is cu right
54. 2:15now the White House appears from the
55. 2:17outside to be in total chaos it's sort
56. 2:20of an exercise in incompetence yeah uh
57. 2:23he's making fools of uh the people he's
58. 2:26sending out to explain the inexplicable
59. 2:30keep saying that they you know they
60. 2:32they're all on the same page and then
61. 2:33every day they're not on the same page
62. 2:34no no it's a different page and just
63. 2:37this morning he's tweeting out maybe uh
64. 2:40it's hard to be consistent uh in
65. 2:43explaining things because there's so
66. 2:45much going on well my Heavens I mean you
67. 2:49know the people have to believe people
68. 2:51in the white house when they come out
69. 2:53and say uh x equals y they need to
70. 2:57believe that well there must be some
71. 2:59Reon reason for that and and today you
72. 3:02don't know what to trust from the from
73. 3:04the mildest press guidance you know uh
74. 3:07in you know most inconsequential things
75. 3:10they're totally inconsistent you don't
76. 3:13know until you check it out if what they
77. 3:15have said is true they got to change
78. 3:17that in fact Bob you mentioned the
79. 3:19president tweeting today his last tweet
80. 3:21just minutes ago says maybe the best
81. 3:24thing to do would be to cancel all
82. 3:26future press briefings and hand out
83. 3:28written responses for the sake of
84. 3:31accuracy uh but here he had an
85. 3:33opportunity to to make things accurate
86. 3:36with an interview that he just did and
87. 3:38he ended up just muddying the waters
88. 3:39even more he ended up contradicting the
89. 3:42various spokes people that have said
90. 3:44different things over the past uh two
91. 3:46days or so uh you know what do you make
92. 3:48of this every once in a while he dangles
93. 3:50that out there a sort of little threat
94. 3:51to the media you know maybe we should
95. 3:53cancel press briefings maybe we should
96. 3:55make them closed and and little threats
97. 3:57like that uh the headline from me is
98. 4:00that won't work it never has uh and it
99. 4:03never will what he needs to do is just
100. 4:05the opposite maybe he goes to Congress
101. 4:08maybe he says you know call me before
102. 4:11the intelligence committees ask me any
103. 4:14question you want and I'll give you any
104. 4:17document you need uh to back up what I'm
105. 4:20telling you here but he has got to find
106. 4:23some way uh to put this to rest this
107. 4:28cannot sustain the government appears to
108. 4:30be in total chaos right now they will
109. 4:32argue that it's not they'll argue just
110. 4:34what the Nixon people did oh we're
111. 4:36behind the scenes we're we're getting
112. 4:38the work done for the American people
113. 4:40but the fact is this is not going to
114. 4:42make it easier for him to pass his
115. 4:44economic plan his tax cut plans he's
116. 4:47already uh having problems getting some
117. 4:50kind of Health Care substitute for
118. 4:52ObamaCare put in place does anybody
119. 4:55think this is going to help that it
120. 4:57isn't he has got to find a way to
121. 5:00reassure people that he is honest and
122. 5:03trustworthy and that he has nothing to
123. 5:06do uh with some of the things that U you
124. 5:09know that are being alleged here still
125. 5:11Bob you know it seems that whenever
126. 5:13there are surveys or questions asked of
127. 5:16his supporters they still remain
128. 5:19steadfast I wonder how long you think he
129. 5:21can maintain their loyalty talking about
130. 5:25the importance of loyalty you know how
131. 5:27highly he places loyalty how long do you
132. 5:29think he can
133. 5:30he can sustain the Loyalty of the people
134. 5:31who voted for him well you are
135. 5:33absolutely right about that and we
136. 5:35thought saw that many times during the
137. 5:37campaign where I remember going to a
138. 5:40rally he was holding in South Carolina
139. 5:43and uh we went around and asked people
140. 5:45why do you like Donald Trump and it was
141. 5:47not so much because of the positions he
142. 5:50was taking but they would say to a
143. 5:52person I like him because he's not
144. 5:54afraid to say what he means they liked
145. 5:57his attitude uh and they forgave him
146. 6:00many things I mean who would think you
147. 6:02could call John McCain a loser and get
148. 6:04away with it who who would believe you
149. 6:06could say things about Megan Kelly like
150. 6:09he said and get away with it or that you
151. 6:11could insult the fastest growing
152. 6:13demographic in the country the uh
153. 6:16Hispanic population and get away with it
154. 6:19and yet he did time after time uh so the
155. 6:22people who foring are really really
156. 6:25foreign but nothing lasts forever and
157. 6:28there comes a point where sometimes
158. 6:30there is one bridge too far this cannot
159. 6:34sustain because if the government comes
160. 6:36to a halt and we keep arguing and going
161. 6:39on about this and nothing happens people
162. 6:41are going to say well wait a minute he
163. 6:44promised this and that and and so far
164. 6:46it's not happening um well that's what I
165. 6:49think is still got he has still got the
166. 6:52core support the the the very core
167. 6:55support but even that is shrinking just
168. 6:57a little but so far he still got them
169. 6:59well I think along the lines of what
170. 7:00you're saying Bob is that the the people
171. 7:02who were kind of On The Fringe and ended
172. 7:03up voting for him because they wanted
173. 7:05change they wanted something different
174. 7:07they want things to get happening in
175. 7:08Washington they want to see movement and
176. 7:11if it does come to a halt I think I
177. 7:12those people are out for sure and and
178. 7:15you know I tell you something else this
179. 7:17has become sort of a clinic in
180. 7:19incompetence at the highest level and
181. 7:21people will tolerate a lot of things but
182. 7:24when they begin when incompetence uh
183. 7:27comes up they they don't like that very
184. 7:29much much and and that unless he can
185. 7:31change that perception I think you might
186. 7:34even see some of his most uh loyal
187. 7:37supporters say wait a minute uh you know
188. 7:40he came in there with some great ideas
189. 7:42but apparently he just couldn't figure
190. 7:43out how to get anything done and in the
191. 7:46end that will be the thing that that
192. 7:49will be the test for Donald Trump not
193. 7:51what we say about him but what he is
194. 7:54able to do sure and and this cannot
195. 7:57sustain it just simply can't and uh he's
196. 8:02got to find a way to get past this all
197. 8:04right Bob sheeper always a pleasure
198. 8:06talking to you sir thank you so much
199. 8:08thank you ladies