‘Nixon All Over Again’: Leon Panetta Argues New Trump Charges Are Clear Evidence of a Cover-Up That Will Bring Trump Down

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called news of Donald Trump allegedly requesting to have Mar-a-Lago security footage deleted by an employee, “Nixon all over again.”

On Friday’s Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer laid out the three new charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith in the classified documents case. They include two more obstruction of justice charges, plus one count of willful retention of national defense information.

Blitzer asked Panetta, who served under several Democratic administrations, “What goes through your mind” regarding the special counsel’s latest reveal?

“My first reaction is that, this is Richard Nixon all over again,” Panetta said. “The biggest problem with Richard Nixon when it came to Watergate was the cover-up, and what we have here is an obvious cover-up with regards to trying to prevent law enforcement from access to potential evidence in a crime. And that mistake of trying to prevent material from being presented to law enforcement is ultimately what brought Nixon down and I think it’s what is ultimately going to bring Trump down, as well.”

Earlier Friday on Inside Politics, Dana Bash also referenced Watergate when she declared, “It is always the cover-up” (that’s worse than the crime).

Trump posted to his Truth Social account Friday afternoon:

The Security Tapes that were VOLUNTARILY given to Deranged Jack Smith and the DOJ were not, I am told, deleted in any way, shape, or form. Prosecutorial Misconduct!

The post was just one of many as Trump continued to rail against the “weaponized DOJ” and its “witch hunt” against him.

The three new charges have been added to the indictment’s original 37 federal counts of violating the Espionage Act. Trump employees Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliviera are co-defendants in the case for allegedly working to conceal the documents. De Oliviera is scheduled to be arraigned in Miami on Monday.

A person referred to as “Trump Employee 4” in the indictment was identified by CNN Friday as Mar-a-Lago’s IT Director Yuscil Taveras, who prosecutors said was pressured to delete security footage of boxes being moved around the Florida club’s property.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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