Velshi: Watergate proved a pardon is no solution

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Publish Date:: 18 June, 2023
Category:: MSNBC
Video License: Standard License
Imported From:: Youtube

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It was Sunday, September 8th 1974, and the new Republican president had decided to grant a pardon to his predecessor, Richard Nixon. Ford spoke of the magnitude of his decision and expressed a desire to move on from the Watergate scandal that had consumed the country for more than two years. "It could go on and on and on,” he said, “or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."

While Ford’s decision to pardon Nixon may have effectively ended the Watergate saga, it didn’t provide a neat resolution or a sense of closure. The pardon also pre-empted further action from the Special Prosecutor’s office and prevented it from issuing an indictment against Nixon. Ford’s approval rating plummeted, and never fully recovered. But in recent years, public opinion has flipped, with the majority of Americans now looking favorably upon Ford's decision. But that pardon was a bandage for a wound that required sutures, and Trump has reopened that wound.

We like to say that in the U.S., no one is above the law, but the history of Watergate proves that not to be entirely true. We have a chance to course-correct now. Let the process play out.

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