“A new president with a bold agenda, determined to exert control over government agencies to carry it out. An agency head who refused to quit, rejecting the president’s demand that he resign and insisting Congress had protected his job to keep it independent from politics,” the New York Times reports.

“Long before President Trump declared he had the power to fire independent agency leaders, the United States experienced a nearly identical test of presidential power.”

“The president then was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who wanted to oust a member of the Federal Trade Commission he believed was an obstacle to his sweeping plan to pull the nation out of the Great Depression.”

Richard Haass: “I am just back from the nation’s capital, where I went to attend the memorial service for Dick Cheney at the National Cathedral. It was good to hear the tributes to an individual committed to public service, and the image of two former presidents (Bush and Biden) along with three former vice presidents (Gore, Pence, and Harris) sitting together comfortably made for a welcome reminder of another Washington.”

“The absence of anyone from the Trump administration underscored that the principal divide in today’s Washington is less between Republicans and Democrats than it is between traditionalists prepared to work within the existing political system and radicals who favor breaking long-standing norms and policies.”

Clark Hoyt: “Recall how Watergate unfolded. Burglars paid by the Nixon reelection campaign bugged telephones at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington’s Watergate complex. They were caught in the act after a night watchman discovered tape over a door latch and called the police. The scandal broadened and climbed, revelation by revelation—much of it through the reporting of journalists, The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.”

“A bipartisan Senate Watergate Committee was formed and held hearings, trying to find the truth. It was a Republican senator, Howard Baker of Tennessee, who kept asking two key questions: ‘What did the president know, and when did he know it?’ A witness revealed that there was an Oval Office taping system that recorded the conversations there. A unanimous Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes to a special prosecutor appointed by his own Justice Department.”

“The president, having previously refused, then complied. A ‘smoking gun’ tape revealed that Nixon had plotted to block investigators as he campaigned for reelection. The leaders of his own party in Congress went to the White House to tell him that he was almost certainly going to be impeached and convicted. And Nixon was soon on that helicopter leaving office.”

“It’s hard to imagine any of this happening today. The checks on the presidency have all grown weaker.”

President Trump was recently thrown off by France and other countries celebrating “Victory Day” to commemorate the end of World War II, saying it was ridiculous they had such a special day but the U.S. didn’t, considering America won the war for them, Mediaite reports.

He added: “And I said, from now on, we’re going to say Victory Day for World War I and World War II, and we could do it for plenty of other wars. But we’ll start with those two.”

Zachary Wolf: “To find a historical precedent for the voiding of a pardon, you have to go back to a post-Revolution case in Virginia that featured three men convicted of treason for joining the British. Their pardons, issued by the Virginia House of Delegates, were ultimately voided because the Virginia Senate had not concurred, as required by the state’s constitution at the time.”

“Granted, all of this occurred before the US Constitution — much less a president’s pardon power, which was inspired by the British kings — had even been established.”

Ruth Marcus: “The former president once made an offhand remark about Charles Manson’s guilt. The reaction shows how aberrant Donald Trump’s rhetoric is.”

John Avlon interviewed Barbara Walter, author of How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them, about the dangerous warning signs in America today.

President Trump wanted to give King Charles one of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s swords during his state visit to the U.K., the New York Times reports.

The Eisenhower presidential library said it could not provide one because it is government property and illegal to give away. Now the library director has been fired.

“Not since America’s founding 250 years ago has a U.S. president expanded power — and punished critics — in more unprecedented ways than Donald J. Trump,” Axios reports.

“Yes, most presidents stretch the power of the White House and, on rare occasions, blatantly target U.S. critics on U.S. soil. But Trump has veered, often suddenly, proudly and loudly, into unprecedented territory in at least 15 different areas.”

“No president in peacetime has done this much in one year of one term.”

“Trump has done this in eight short months, often with the loyal backing of a compliant Republican-led Congress and validated by the conservative majority of the Supreme Court.”

New York Times: Trump’s remarks at Kirk memorial distill his politics.

Oliver North’s marriage to his one-time secretary Fawn Hall was a surprise to his adult children, Michael Isikoff reports.

The couple apparently renewed their acquaintance in November at the funeral of North’s wife of 56 years.

Said daughter Sarah Katz: “We were not at the wedding because we didn’t know it was happening. And mostly we hope it won’t impact our relationship with our dad because we do love him and we’re still in the process of mourning our mother.”