The resignation of Gerald Butts, the prime minister’s principal secretary, should not come as a shock. After a series of disastrous press conferences, and who knows what bombshells are hidden, someone senior had to take the fall. This political scandal is playing out as scandals often do when a cover-up starts to unravel.
Justin Trudeau made a critical error in ignoring the lesson of Watergate, “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up.” Richard Nixon’s doomed attempt to conceal his Administration’s connection to a “third-rate burglary” devoured his presidency and ultimately culminated in his resignation. Nixon was taped telling his chief-of-staff Bob Haldeman to contact the CIA director to have the FBI call off its investigation. Richard Helms refused, since it would have constituted obstruction of justice. Anything sound vaguely familiar here?
