Mr. President, we know you are not a saint and more than 77 million Americans were fine with that on election day. As bad as the Epstein files may be for you, it is more important to “let it go” and trust that the American people will judge you appropriately. But a word of caution: Do not insult the intelligence of the American people.

When, without much dispute, one of the worse creatures to ever walk the face of the earth, Jeffrey Epstein, says in one of his emails that “someone else” is the worse person that he (Epstein) has ever known and that person’s name happens to be the current president of the United States – Donald Trump – it is troubling.

Today, it is the U.S. Attorney General in the “hot seat.”

During the Watergate saga of former President Richard Nixon, the attorney generals were the key players. One of three former attorney generals for Nixon in less than a three-year period was John Mitchell. For Trump’s second presidency it is Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Note: the movie from the past does not end well for the attorney generals. Among other related crimes, Mitchell was convicted and served 19 months in jail for obstructing justice. Yes, the top law enforcement officer was arrested, convicted and jailed for supporting his boss, Nixon, over the Watergate scandal. Releasing tapes were involved then and releasing the Epstein files are involved today.

Before Mitchell could be arrested, convicted and jailed, he had a successor. Former Attorney General Richard Kleindienst failed to last a year before he resigned in disgrace due to Watergate.

Then you had the attorney general who told Nixon “no.” Attorney General Eliot Richardson resigned when asked to dismiss the Special Counsel Archibald Cox who wanted the release of nine tapes that Nixon still held. The probe was getting eerily close to Nixon.

In a panic, due to Richardson’s refusal to comply, to break the law, Nixon tried to fire others. Nixon asked Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus also refused and resigned. Nixon finally got Solicitor General Robert Bork to fire Cox.

It became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre” over the Watergate tape recordings. This made Richardson a hero for standing up to Nixon and it marked the beginning of the end for Nixon in the White House.

Today, Attorney General Pam Bondi is in the hot seat. She should recall history. Hiding incriminating Watergate tapes and potentially incriminating Epstein files have one common thread – both Trump and Nixon fought for months to not release the information under any circumstance with the latter stepping down from office.

The continuous “games” that Trump and his administration have played with regard to the Epstein files are not fooling anybody. If Trump truly wanted the files to be released he only has to ask the DOJ to do so – period.

Well, Bondi claimed months ago that there was nothing to see in the Epstein files, and therefore there were no grounds for further investigation or prosecution. Today, Trump has ordered her to “find something” incriminating about a list of prominent Democrats allegedly involved with Epstein.

Is it me or does anyone else see something wrong here?

“Opening up a new investigation” after saying there was no need for further review of Epstein files, seems weird. It would only serve the purpose of allowing the attorney general not to release key parts of the Epstein files because they would be the subject of an ongoing investigation. The problem for Bondi is that she said before Congress there was no need for any further digging into the files. Both cannot be true.

We must remember that when you look back at why Nixon stepped down from office, it was not because of the original crime – breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters; rather it was because Nixon and his administration sought to cover it up. It was the obstruction of justice charge that brought him down. It also led to the conviction and prison time for his attorney general, John Mitchell, as well as others involved. Nixon was eventually pardoned by his successor, Former President Gerald Ford.

Nixon’s attempt to withhold the tapes went all the way to the Supreme Court. The high court ruled that the president was not above the law and that the tapes had to be released.

When portions were released, 18 minutes of the tapes were missing. Oh, that must have happened by “accident.” Nixon was encouraged by a prominent member of his inner circle to burn the tapes. Nixon’s lack of veracity proved troublesome. We learned to follow the evidence, not the words of the potentially guilty. Per the Epstein files, I see “redactions” in the evidence being the most likely outcome, instead of erasures in audio tapes as in the Watergate scandal.

Yes, indeed, there are strong similarities between Nixon and Trump. Both are Republicans. Both were involved in impeachment proceedings. Both won second terms. Both were hardline “law and order” presidents. Both seemed to have enemy lists. Both had strategies to hurt Black people – Nixon’s Southern Strategy to increase the white southern vote for Republicans and Trump’s ending inclusion, fairness and opportunities for everyone not white. Both tried to engage and challenge China.

High praise goes to the courageous four Republicans that joined all the Democrats in the House to push the discharge petition which led to the near unanimous vote in the House to release the files. And for the 53 GOP Senators who once voted to block the release, it is good to see you all switch your vote, allowing a unanimous vote in the Senate.

My fear is that there will be massive redactions in the text, omissions, and/or hiding behind made up judicial reasoning to sanitize the salacious information, including the horrors the women involved, especially underage women, had to go through – truly a form of hell.

Like with Nixon and the Watergate tapes, the Epstein files now are in the hands of Trump and Bondi. There will be truth or consequences, eventually.

Gary Franks served three terms as a congressman from Connecticut’s 5th District. He was the first Black conservative elected to Congress and first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years. Host: Podcast “We Speak Frankly” www.garyfranksphilanthropy.org