Bernstein says Trump ‘dangerous’

CARL Bernstein, one of the two journalists who brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon in the 1970s’ Watergate scandal, says Donald Trump is “dangerous beyond any modern presidency”.

Mr Bernstein said the President’s firing of former FBI director James Comey during the Russia investigation in May was a “dangerous” situation and Mr Trump’s attacks on the press were more dangerous than Nixon’s.

He has spoken against Mr Trump’s alleged willingness to work with the Russians during the election campaign and his attempts to block the ensuing investigation.

After the President’s chief of staff Reince Priebus was sacked, Mr Bernstein took to Twitter to name what he saw as an even bigger problem than the many staff shake-ups in the White House.

“The problem is not the chief of staff. The problem – dangerous beyond any modern presidency – is the President,” he wrote.

The attack came at a time when Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the “establishment fully outwitted Trump” over the passing of tough new sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow for interfering with the 2016 US election.

The President reluctantly signed the sanctions into law earlier this week after the US Congress passed the motion by a margin Mr Trump could not overrule.

“It ends hopes for improving our relations with the new US administration,” Mr Medvedev said.

“Second, it’s a declaration of a full-fledged economic war on Russia.”

But Mr Medvedev’s sting was in an attack on the US democratic process – and Mr Trump’s ego.

“The Trump administration has shown its total weakness by handing over executive power to Congress in the most humiliating way. This changes the power balance in US political circles,” he said.

He said the move was a “way to knock Trump down a peg”.

Meanwhile Mr Trump’s approval rating has sunk to a new low, with a poll showing just 33% of US voters approve of his job performance while 61% disapprove.