Carl Bernstein says tape of Trump asking officials for votes is ‘far worse than Watergate’

Carl Bernstein, whose work as an investigative journalist on the Watergate scandal led to the resignation of president Richard Nixon, appeared on “CNN Newsroom with Fredericka Whitfield” Sunday. Bernstein discussed the recently released tape on which President Donald Trump allegedly asked an election official to “find” 11,780 votes for him.

After several failed attempts to have election results thrown out by the high courts, Trump spent some time Saturday on the phone with Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger. On a recording of the conversation, Trump can be heard telling the election official, “And there's nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you've recalculated...You're off by hundreds of thousands of votes."

Bernstein thought the recording was more damning than anything from the Watergate scandal.

“This was something far worse than Watergate,” said Bernstein. “We have both a criminal president of the United States in Donald Trump, and a subversive president of the United States.”

“This is the ultimate smoking gun tape,” he continued. “It is the tape with the evidence of what this president is willing to do to undermine the electoral system and illegally, improperly and immorally try to instigate a coup.”

Video Transcript

[WHOOSHING SOUNDS]

CARL BERNSTEIN: 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.

- Carl Bernstein, whose work as an investigative journalist on the Watergate scandal led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, appeared on CNN with Fredricka Whitfield Sunday. And he had a lot to say about the recent tapes on which President Trump allegedly asked an election official to find 11,780 votes for him.

CARL BERNSTEIN: This is the ultimate smoking gun tape. It is the tape with the evidence of what this president is willing to do to undermine the electoral system and illegally, improperly, and immorally try to instigate a coup.

- After several failed attempts to have election results thrown out by the high courts, Trump allegedly spent some time Saturday on the phone with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and can be heard telling the election official, "and there's nothing wrong with saying, um, you know, that you've recalculated. You're off by hundreds of thousands of votes." Bernstein believes the taped conversation is more than sufficient evidence to call for Trump's immediate resignation.

CARL BERNSTEIN: In any other presidency, any other presidency, this tape would be evidence 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.

[WHOOSH]