Bernstein: Trump presidency characterized by his lies

Famed Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein said in a Sunday television interview that President Trump’s tenure in the White House has been “characterized” by Trump’s lying.

“There’s no reason to believe almost anything Donald Trump says,” Bernstein told CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about the administration’s promise not to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.

{mosads}“Because what we know is that the president of the United States and his presidency is characterized above all else by the lying of the president of the United States.”

Trump said earlier this month that he is not considering firing Mueller, who is leading the probe into Russia’s election meddling and any potential ties between Trump campaign staff and the Kremlin. 

Bernstein, who broke the Watergate scandal during the presidency of Richard Nixon, said, however, that Trump’s lies do not necessarily constitute a crime.

“That doesn’t mean that lying by the president is a crime,” he said. 

“It does mean that we see him covering up events, but not necessarily criminally covering up events. And where this is going, definitively, we don’t know.”

Bernstein added that White House officials have told him that Trump has conveyed “the desire to fire Mueller.”