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No Washington scandal would be complete without an attempted cover-up.

A day after Americans read of a conversation between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — one in which Trump tried to enlist Zelensky's help in digging up dirt on political rival Joe Biden — they learned of the efforts to keep that conversation under wraps.

A whistleblower complaint, filed by an anonymous intelligence official and released Thursday, underscores the severity of Trump’s transgression, which subordinated the national security of the United States to Trump’s political interests. The complaint also demonstrated that many of his own advisers understood the explosive nature of the conversation, which Trump insists "was perfect."

This was evident in one camp of Trump aides who sought to “lock down” the official record of the conversation. Someone in that camp moved the record from the normal computer platform on which it would reside and could be viewed by Cabinet members and other senior aides. Instead, it was placed on a separate computer system reserved for highly secretive matters.

That act alone was inappropriate and smacks of a cover-up. (And there might have been others: The whistleblower said White House officials told him this was "not the first time" a presidential transcript was moved to the more secure system for political reasons.) The whistleblower’s complaint provides ample reason for Congress to subpoena witnesses to ascertain who was hiding what, why and on whose orders.

Investigators should also look into whether the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel and White House counsel's office acted properly in providing legal cover for trying to keep the complaint away from the congressional intelligence committees.

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But there is a lot more here than a cover-up. In fact, the old adage that “the cover-up is worse than the crime” might not be true in this instance.

The whistleblower complaint lays out a detailed, credible case that the president misused the power of his office "to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election," using Attorney General William Barr and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani as intermediaries.

As with the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s, a president seeking reelection sought to undermine his Democratic Party rivals. Even Richard Nixon, however, tried to stay at arm's-length from the campaign of dirty tricks.

In this case, the dirty tricks are alleged to have come from the president himself. With the power and prestige of the United States behind him, and knowing that Ukraine is reliant on U.S. military aid, Trump asked Zelensky only July 25 to investigate former Vice President Biden, then his toughest potential opponent in next year’s election.

The cover-up alleged by the whistleblower is troubling enough. But the underlying acts and flagrant abuse of presidential power are the most damning.

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