Bernstein: Public, press must hold presidents accountable
Watergate reporter sees nation entering dark, even dangerous times.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — Carl Bernstein, the former Washington Post reporter who shared the Pulitzer Prize with Bob Woodward for their reporting on Watergate in the 1970s, still has plenty of presidential probing going on in his notebook.
Bernstein, speaking Thursday in Palm Beach Gardens, addressed a number of newsworthy topics and didn’t hold back on his notion that the public and the press have a joint responsibility for holding presidents accountable.
B e r n s t e i n was o n e o f f o u r reporters whose byline appeared on a CNN story this week that reported President Barack Obama and Donald Trump were presented with classified documents last week that contained allegations Russian operatives had compromising personal and financial information about the president-elect. Some memos were in circulation last summer.
“We need to find out what is happening and what has happened,” he told a room full of people in La Posada, a senior living community near The Gardens Mall.
Trump quickly pushed back against CNN’s reporting. He initially responded with a Tweet that read “FAKE NEWS — A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!” and held a news conference Wednesday vehemently denying the allegations.
Intelligence officials said a twopage synopsis outlining the allegations for Trump and Obama was intended to demonstrate that Russia possesses potentially damaging information about both parties but only released that which would harm Democrats, CNN reported.
Bernstein drew a comparison between former President Richard Nixon’s intent to sabotage the Democrats, disrupting the 1972 election, and “what the Russians seem to have done in this election cycle.”
“I think this is maybe the dark-