>>> THE FIRING OF JEFF SESSIONS TODAY HAS BEEN COMPARED TO THE
SATURDAY NIGHT MASSACRE IN WHICH
PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON FIRED
HIS SPECIAL PROSECUTOR AFTER HIS
ATTORNEY GENERAL, ELIOT
RICHARDSON, REFUSED TO CARRY OUT
THAT ORDER.
THAT ORDER. ATTORNEY GENERAL ELIOT
RICHARDSON RESIGNED INSTEAD OF
CARRYING OUT THE ORDER FROM
PRESIDENT NIXON.
PRESIDENT NIXON. THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL THEN
RESIGNED, REFUSING TO CARRY OUT
PRESIDENT NIXON’S ORDER.
AND THEN SOLICITOR GENERAL
ROBERT BORK CARRIED OUT THE
ORDER BY NIXON TO FIRE ARCHIBALD
COX, BUT THEN UNDER PUBLIC
PRESSURE, WHEN A NEW SPECIAL
PROSECUTOR WAS APPOINTED, ROBERT
BORK ISSUED A NEW JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT RULE, PROTECTING THE
SPECIAL PROSECUTOR.
SPECIAL PROSECUTOR. THAT RULE SAID THE ATTORNEY
GENERAL WILL NOT COUNTERMAND OR
INTERFERE WITH THE SPECIAL
PROSECUTOR’S DECISIONS OR
ACTIONS.
ACTIONS. THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR WILL
DETERMINE WHETHER AND TO WHAT
EXTENT HE WILL INFORM OR CONSULT
WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL ABOUT
THE CONDUCT OF HIS DUTIES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES.
RESPONSIBILITIES. THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR WILL BE
PROVIDED WITH SUCH FUNDS AND
FACILITIES TO CARRY OUT HIS
RESPONSIBILITIES, AS HE MAY
REASONABLY REQUIRE.
REASONABLY REQUIRE. THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR MAY, FROM
TIME TO TIME, MAKE PUBLIC
STATEMENTS OR REPORTS AS HE
DEEMS APPROPRIATE AND SHALL,
UPON COMPLETION OF HIS
ASSIGNMENT, SUBMIT A FINAL
REPORT TO THE APPROPRIATE PEOPLE
OR ENTITIES OR CONGRESS.
AND SO, THE QUESTION TONIGHT, IS
THE NEW ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL
AS HONORABLE AS RICHARD NIXON’S
ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL, ROBERT
BORK?
BORK? HERE IS THE MAN WHO RICHARD
NIXON INSTALLED AS HIS ACTING
ATTORNEY GENERAL, ROBERT BORK,
AFTER HE FIRED THE SPECIAL
PROSECUTOR WHO WAS INVESTIGATING
RICHARD NIXON AND HIS
ADMINISTRATION.
ADMINISTRATION. >> I CAN ONLY SAY THAT I’M NOT
GOING TO WALK OUT OF THIS JOB,
OUT OF THIS TOWN AS THE MAN WHO
IN ANY WAY COMPROMISED
INVESTIGATIONS OR PROSECUTIONS.
>> THAT WAS ROBERT BORK, WHO
GUARANTEED THE NEW SPECIAL
PROSECUTOR, THEN LEON JAWORSKI,
FULL INDEPENDENCE AFTER RICHARD
NIXON ORDERED THE FIRING OF THE
FIRST SPECIAL PROSECUTOR,
ARCHIBALD COX.
ARCHIBALD COX. OUR NEXT GUEST LIVED THROUGH ALL
OF US.
OF US. JOINING US NOW, JILL WINE-BANKS.
I CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHAT IT WAS
LIKE FOR YOU DURING THE SATURDAY
NIGHT MASSACRE, SEEING YOUR
BOSS, SPECIAL PROSECUTOR, FIRED.
BUT THEN ROBERT BORK, VERY MUCH
TO THE COUNTRY’S SURPRISE,
PROTECTED, DELIBERATELY DID
EVERYTHING HE COULD TO -- AND
ISSUED A RULE THAT PROTECTED
YOUR INVESTIGATION.
YOUR INVESTIGATION. >> I THINK I KNOW HOW IT WILL
MUELLER TEAM FEELS TONIGHT.
THERE HAS TO BE HUGE ANXIETY.
WE HAVE AN ACTING ATTORNEY
GENERAL NOW, WHO HAS CALLED THE
INVESTIGATION A HOAX AND A WITCH
HUNT AND THEREFORE HAS EXHIBITED
WHAT I WOULD CONSIDER TO BE A
CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN TERMS OF
OVERSEEING IT.
OVERSEEING IT. SO THEY MUST BE VERY ANXIOUS
ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN AND I’M
HOPING THAT THEY’RE TAKING
PRECAUTIONS TO MAKE SURE THAT
THEY PROTECT THEMSELVES, AT
LEAST UNTIL THE NEW DEMOCRATIC
HOUSE CAN TAKE ACTION TO
FORMALLY AND OFFICIALLY PROTECT
THEM THROUGH LEGISLATION.
>> JILL, ON THE NIGHT THAT IT
HAPPENED, ROBERT BORK WAS THE
MATTHEW WHITAKER OF HIS DAY.
HE WAS CONDEMNED BY LIBERALS AND
DEMOCRATS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY
FOR CARRYING OUT THE FIRING OF
THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR.
BUT WHAT MOST OF THOSE PEOPLE
WHO CONDEMNED ROBERT BORK DID
NOT REALLY PAY ATTENTION TO
AFTER THE FACT IS THAT ROBERT
BORK DID NOT, APPARENTLY,
INTERFERE WITH YOUR
INVESTIGATION.
INVESTIGATION. >> HE DID NOT.
AND HE ACTUALLY -- THERE WAS
DEBATE THAT NIGHT AND THE NEXT
MORNING AS TO WHETHER WE HAD
BEEN FIRED OR JUST ARCHIE COX
HAD BEEN FIRED, JUST THE SPECIAL
PROSECUTOR.
PROSECUTOR. IT TURNED OUT THAT WE HAD BEEN
ABOLISHED, BUT BORK DID
REAPPOINT THE ENTIRE OFFICE.
SO HE DID TAKE THE STEPS, BUT
THAT WAS BECAUSE OF A HUGE
PUBLIC OUTCRY.
PUBLIC OUTCRY. MAIL IN THE OLD DAYS, NO E-MAIL,
BUT ACTUAL SNAIL MAIL WAS
DELIVERED IN HUGE QUANTITIES TO
OUR OFFICE, TO THE CONGRESS, AND
TO THE WHITE HOUSE.
AND THE REACTION WAS THREE DAYS
AFTER THE FIRING, NIXON HAD TO
MAKE A U-TURN.
HE SAID, I WILL GIVE YOU THE
TAPES.
TAPES. I WILL APPOINT A NEW SPECIAL
PROSECUTOR, BUT MUCH LIKE WHAT
HAPPENED WITH US, WE DIDN’T
TRUST THE NEW SPECIAL
PROSECUTOR.
PROSECUTOR. WHY WAS HE APPOINTING SOMEONE
NEW?
NEW? WHY DIDN’T HE JUST BRING BACK
ARCHIBALD COX?
ARCHIBALD COX? SO WHY DO WE NEED A NEW ATTORNEY
GENERAL?
GENERAL? AND WHAT WILL THIS MEAN IN TERMS
OF WHAT HE CAN DO TO STYMIE THE
INVESTIGATION?
INVESTIGATION? HE HAS ALREADY EXPRESSED A
DISTRUST OF THE INVESTIGATION,
SO HE CAN START PUTTING REAL
HOLDS ON WHAT THEY ARE ABLE TO
DO, WHO THEY CAN INDICT, WHO
THEY CAN INVESTIGATE, WHO THEY
CAN GO FORWARD WITH.
SO IT CAN BE A REAL SHOWSTOPPER
WITHOUT FIRING MUELLER.
THAT’S WHY THERE IS A BIG
PROTEST PLANNED FOR TOMORROW BY
INDIVISIBLE, AND I BELIEVE,
MOVEON IS ALSO DOING THIS, AT
5:00 TOMORROW IN CHICAGO,
ANYWAY.
ANYWAY. SO I DON’T KNOW IF IT’S
NATIONWIDE AT 5:00.
THERE WILL BE A PROTEST ABOUT
THE ACT OF FIRING SESSIONS.
AND ALTHOUGH HE TECHNICALLY SAID
HE RESIGNED, HE RESIGNED WITH
THE REQUEST OF THE PRESIDENT.
SO THAT’S FIRING.
>> AND THE HISTORY OF THE NIXON
ERA SHOWS THAT MATTHEW WHITAKER
HAS PLENTY TO FEAR ABOUT BEING
INVESTIGATED HIMSELF FOR
OBSTRUCTION, AS ACTING ATTORNEY
GENERAL, IF HE DOES, IN ANY WAY,
CONSPIRE WITH DONALD TRUMP TO DO