Tom Petri Quotes

It isn't the original scandal that gets people in the most trouble - it's the attempted cover-up.

Politicians lie.

Even the most cynical can hardly be surprised by the antics of Nixon and his accomplices as they are gradually revealed. It matters little, at this point, where the exact truth lies in the maze of perjury, evasion, and of contempt for the normal - hardly inspiring - standards of political conduct.

It is clear that Michael Cohen was not truthful with the House Intelligence Committee, which is all the more reason that we never should have ended our investigation.

Michael Flynn was forced to resign, we are told, because he told a big lie. But what about the little ones?

I have never lied about my relationship with Bill Clinton. The only proven liar, at this point, and the only admitted liar, is Bill Clinton; not Gennifer Flowers, not Kathleen Willey, not Paula Jones and not Monica Lewinsky, at this point. He is the only proven liar.

On several occasions, I discussed with Bill Clinton the subject of inquiries by the media about our relationship. He told me to continue to deny our relationship, that if we would stick together, everything would be okay.

It is almost always the cover-up rather than the event that causes trouble.

Lying can never save us from another lie.

And, believe me; they will do everything to cover this up.

Hillary Clinton embodies the corruption of Washington.

One thing I congratulate everyone on is the great explosion which has occurred in Washington's Black House and the very important scandal which has gripped leaders of America.

In Washington, task forces work like Tylenol: they reduce the symptoms of scandal while leaving the substance untouched.

The fact of the Watergate cover-up is not nearly as interesting as the step into making the cover-up. And when you understand the step, you understand that Richard Nixon lied. That he was a criminal.

Politicians often lie.

As I watched some of the Watergate hearings I kept asking myself what all these people—[John] Dean and others—were doing there in the first place. Was there really an honest job that needed doing?

It's hard to tell whether [Attorney General] Janet Reno is engaged in a cover-up or she's merely incompetent.

The administration shaded the truth … I was part of the propaganda campaign.

When politics comes in the door, truth goes out the window.

You guys simply have to back off. The truth will create a public disaster and undo everything we are trying to accomplish out here.

There is a lot of spinning and a lot of lying in our times—in politics, in government, in sports and everywhere. It’s gotten to the point where … you no longer believe the first version of anything. It wasn’t always that way. I guess it started for me with Vietnam, when the establishment felt it had to lie to justify a policy that as it turned out was never going to work.

Even Napoleon had his Watergate.

They spend us into the dirt and lie like crazy, and, my gosh, I have never seen an opponent who just lies like he's taking a drinking of water like Terry McAuliffe. It is nothing to him.

We learned that Trump had not given a million dollars away. When Corey Lewandowski told me that, it was a lie.

Every politician, in order to be a politician, has to be adept at the art of one and one thing only, and that is lying.