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HANSEN: John Dean's testimony would prove to be prophetic - perhaps even self-fulfilling. Reaction to Liddy's plan was highly unfavorable. II, PP. I would like to address a few of the remarkable parallels I find in the Mueller Report that echo Watergate, particularly those related to obstruction of justice. Petersen provided Nixon with confidential information from the prosecutors and the grand jury proceedings. At first, he shredded incriminating files. Feb. 1, 2019. He has been a go-to talking head whenever a presidential scandal is brewing, and the twice-impeached Donald Trump whose desperate attempt to stay in the White House after losing the 2020 election remains under investigation has kept him busy as a CNN contributor. The Mueller Report offers a powerful legal analysis that, notwithstanding the fact the pardon power is one of the most unrestricted of presidential powers, it cannot be used for improper purposes. Secondly, I believe as an attorney, he has an ethical obligation to testify. This year Dean will be celebrating another anniversary 50 years of marriage to his wife, Maureen. Now, 40 years later, then some, Dean will return to Capitol Hill to testify before a different Congress about a different president. In June 1973, as a young lawyer on Capitol Hill, I watched White House counsel John Dean testify before Sen. Sam Ervin's Watergate Committee from the row of seats behind the senators. Haldeman and Chief Advisor for Domestic Affairs John Ehrlichman, two of President Nixons closest advisors, who denied there was any White House wrongdoing; Alexander Butterfield, a former minor White House aide who revealed the existence of a secret audio tape-recording system that documented Oval Office conversations; and Rep. Barbara Jordan, a freshman member of the House Judiciary Committee, whose eloquent opening statement at the impeachment proceedings resonated throughout the hearing room and the nation. Watergate Hearings Audio : US Senate : Free Download, Borrow, and In many ways the Mueller Report is to President Trump what the so-called Watergate Road Map (officially titled Grand Jury Report and Recommendation Concerning Transmission of Evidence to the House of Representatives) was to President Richard Nixon. Elizabeth Holtzman, a former member of Congress who served on the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate hearings, said in her interview he was an essential part of the criminal enterprise. Dean himself talks about how he crossed a moral line early in his White House tenure. John Dean: Why Nixon Risked His Presidency | Time The Oval Office exchange between the President and Haldeman was on June 23, 1972, six days after the after the arrests at the Watergate complex. When Dean read that testimony in the summer of 1973 in front of a massive TV audience, he became the face of the Watergate conspiracy for most of America, according to Garrett Graff, author of Watergate: A New History.. Starring Julia Roberts, Sean Penn, and Dan Stevens in the lead roles, Gaslit on Starz offers a glimpse into the extraordinary life of Martha Mitchell, the socialite who was kidnapped in an attempt to stop her from breaking the news about the Watergate break-in. The public pressure was so great, Nixon had to appoint a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski. I dont think its an emotion that Donald Trump could ever muster.. . For several reasons I believe he should testify. MUELLER REPORT RE TERMINATION OF COMEY (PP. [6], Dean volunteered to write position papers on crime for Richard Nixon's presidential campaign in 1968. First off . MUELLER REPORT RE EFFORTS TO PREVENT OR DISTORT DISCLOSURE OF THE JUNE 9, 2016 TRUMP TOWER MEETING (PP. John Dean's Watergate Whitewash - Commentary Magazine This is part one of John W. Dean's testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee. His co-editor was Goldwater's son Barry Goldwater, Jr.[31], Historian Stanley Kutler was accused of editing the Nixon tapes to make Dean appear in a more favorable light. It's written with Bob Altemeyer, and it's titled Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers. In June 1973, John Wesley Dean III, former White House counsel under President Richard Nixon, transfixed the nation with his one week of testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee chaired by . In 'Gaslit,' a Victim of Watergate and History Finds Rescue Eisenberg, MUELLER RPT, VOL. President Richard Nixon speaks on the White House lawn prior to his trip to China in 1972. It certainly changed my career path. Nixon lawyer John Dean says surprise Jan. 6 hearing 'better be a big Shortly after Watergate, Dean became an investment banker, author and lecturer based in Beverly Hills, California. WASHINGTON, June 27 Following is the transcript of a White House memorandum analyzing John W. Dean's. testimony on Watergate, as read during the Senate Water gate committee's hearings to day by . ART. John Dean (Part 1) Watergate Hearings Testimony - YouTube Were friends. Mr. JOHN DEAN (Former White House Counsel): What I had hoped to do in this conversation was to have the president tell me we had to end the matter now. . [26], His next book, released in 2006, was Conservatives without Conscience, a play on Barry Goldwater's book The Conscience of a Conservative. MCGAHNS DILEMMA TESTIFYING BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE. When Colson relayed President Nixons positive response, Hunt pled guilty and the so-called Cuban American defendants followed his lead and pled guilty, as well. Coupled with his sense of distance from Nixon's inner circle, the "Berlin Wall" of advisors Haldeman and Ehrlichman, Dean sensed he was going to become the Watergate scapegoat and returned to Washington without completing his report. John Dean's testimony this week before the House Judiciary Committee squarely placed the Mueller report's findings in the historical context of Watergate. John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is an American former attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. For those of you who lived through Watergate, his name is synonymous with the political intrigue of the 1970s. By April 15, Nixon tried to tell me he was kidding about finding $1 million in hush money to pay the burglar defendants to maintain their silence. Rupert Murdoch Throws His Own Company Under the Bus + A - Chartable Nixon vigorously denied all accusations that he had authorized a cover-up, and Dean had no corroboration beyond various notes he had taken in his meetings with the president. Such testimony against Nixon, while damaging to the president's credibility, had little legal impact, as it was merely his word against Nixon's. WATERGATE: President Trump repeated efforts to have Attorney General Sessions reverse his recusal un-recuse himself to take control of the Special Counsels investigation parallels President Nixons attempt to control the FBI investigation through his former White House Counsel John Ehrlichman. He said, "It's a nightmare. After Comeys testimony to Congress on May 3, 2017, in which he declined to answer questions about whether the President was personally under investigation, the President decided to terminate Comey. Dean's testimony before the House was watched by some 80 million Americans. The program also includes one of the few current day public figures who can fully understand what Dean went through Trumps former longtime attorney Michael Cohen, who went to prison for tax evasion and campaign finance violations. A few specific examples of the Mueller findings and the Watergate parallels (HEADER CITES ARE TO VOLUME II): MUELLER REPORT RE MICHAEL FLYNN (PP. VS. HALDEMAN, 559 F.2D 31 (D.C. CIR. . The words Nixon used were strikingly like those uttered by President Trump. Dean was later incarcerated for 127 days at an Army base after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice and was in witness protection for 18 months to shield him from ongoing death threats. 62-77): President Trump called Director Comey multiple times, against the advice of Don McGahn, to have him confirm that he, Trump, was not personally under investigation. Five men are arrested while trying to bug the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate, a hotel and office building in Washington, D.C. A day later, White . [15], Dean pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice before Watergate trial judge John Sirica on October 19, 1973. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Dean's testimony to the Senate the year before implicated Nixon in the Watergate affair. Marshals and kept instead at Fort Holabird (near Baltimore, Maryland) in a special "safe house" primarily used for witnesses against the Mafia. We also talked with Michael Frisch, a friend who is the Ethics Counsel at Georgetown University Law Center. Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, Californias snowpack is approaching an all-time record, with more on the way, Column: A transgender patients lawsuit against Kaiser is a front for the conservative war on LGBTQ rights, Silent Coup: The Removal of a President,, Nixon hated PBS, but his Watergate scandal gave the fledgling network a major hit, From Chris Rock to the SAG Awards. Mueller refutes the dubious contention that when the president exercises his Constitutional powers, he is not subject to federal criminal laws. Mr. McGahn is the most prominent fact witness regarding obstruction of justice cited in the Mueller Report. Cox had been appointed after President Nixon fired his Attorney General Richard Kleindienst in April 1973 and the Senate insisted a special prosecutor be appointed by Kleindiensts replacement, Elliot Richardson. Stephen Battaglio writes about television and the media business for the Los Angeles Times out of New York. .they should call the FBI and say that we wish for the country, dont go any further into this case, period. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Granted immunity, Dean laid out in stunning detail . John Dean, a former White House counsel who . It was not until it was revealed that Nixon had made secret White House tape recordings (disclosed in testimony by Alexander Butterfield on July 16) and the tapes were subpoenaed and analyzed that many of Dean's accusations were largely substantiated. I think Richard Nixon had a conscience, said Dean. Gjon Mili . If the problem cannot be solved internally, Model Rule 1.13 provides that an attorney may report out, despite his or her confidentiality, what is going on, despite his duty of confidentiality or the attorney-client privilege. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal and his subsequent testimony to Congress as a witness. A former key witness in the Watergate investigation that brought down President Richard Nixon says indictments are on their way to Donald Trump. This small piece of testimony, of course, became highly significant for it led to the discovery of the secret White House taping system. . Ari Emanuel lets his AI alter ego open Endeavors earnings call, WGA chief negotiator David Young replaced due to illness ahead of key talks with studios, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, Best coffee city in the world? Vintage video clips supplement Deans story in the CNN series, showing the news divisions of the three major broadcast networks ABC, NBC and CBS at the peak of their powerful hegemony in the 1970s. [1] His family moved to Flossmoor, Illinois, where he attended grade school. To the extent Mr. McGahn wishes to assert Executive Privilege or the Attorney-Client privilege, he can do so, but those privileges were waived regarding the material plainly set forth in the Mueller Report. Dean commented on the removal in colorful terms, saying it "seems to be planned like a murder" and that Special Counsel Robert Mueller likely had contingency plans, possibly including sealed indictments. The point is: Richard Nixon knew he could not use his pardon power, unrestricted as it is in Article II, for the improper purpose of gaining the silence of witnesses in legal proceedings. PRINTING OFFICE, 2019). His deputy, William Ruckelshaus, also refused to fire Cox and also resigned, with the next man in succession, Solicitor General Robert Bork carrying out the presidents order to terminate Cox. With his plea to felony offenses, Dean was disbarred as a lawyer in Virginia and the District of Columbia.[18][19]. Rule 1.13 further provides that when an attorney representing an organization encounters ongoing crime or fraud, he or she must first try to solve the problem within the organization, by going up the ladder to the highest authority that can address the problem. Will Dominion-Fox News lawsuit be different? Legal experts weigh in, ChatGPT who? The Mueller Report explains in Vol. It also prompts the interview subjects to note how the public based their opinions on Watergate on an agreed upon set of facts, a major difference from todays polarized and partisan media landscape. (See U.S. John Dean stars as Democrats launch Trump offensive with Watergate Dean was born in Akron, Ohio, and lived in Marion, the hometown of the 29th President of the United States, Warren Harding, whose biographer he later became. April 6, 1973: White House counsel John Dean begins cooperating with federal Watergate prosecutors. Dean served as White House Counsel for President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. And youre gonna have the clemency problem for the others. For those of you who lived through Watergate, his name is synonymous with the political intrigue of the 1970s. His testimony attracted very high television ratings since he was breaking new ground in the investigation, and media attention grew apace, with more detailed newspaper coverage. The day following Flynns resignation, President Trump in a one-on-one Oval Office conversation with Director Comey said, I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go., WATERGATE: In a like situation, when President Nixon learned of his re-election committees involvement in the Watergate break-in, he instructed his Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman, to have the CIA ask the FBI not to go any further into the investigation of the breakin for bogus national security reasons. It was a very sympathetic and very believable portrait, said Graff. So this means that John Dean either lied under oath or is lying to his readers in his autobiography. Fired white House counsel John Dean testifies before the Senate Watergate Committee while his wife, Maureen, watches in Washington, June 28, 1973. In the 1999 film Dick, Dean was played by Jim Breuer. 50 years after the Watergate break-in, John Dean relives the scandal 24-48): When President Trump learned that his National Security Advisor Michael Flynn lied to the FBI and others about his telephone conversations with the Russian Ambassador to the United States regarding U. S. sanctions imposed because of Russias election interference, he met with FBI Director James Comey at a private White House dinner and asked for Comeys loyalty. WATERGATE: Nixon used the possibility of presidential pardons to keep witnesses from fully testifying in legal proceedings, a practice that was condemned in the Articles of Impeachment drawn up by the House Judiciary Committee in 1974. Gavel-to-Gavel: The Watergate Scandal and Public Television, The Watergate Files Exhibit, Ford Library Museum, Covering Watergate: 40 Years Later with MacNeil and Lehrer, PBS. Dean a young, highly ambitious, Porsche-driving, tassel-loafer-wearing lawyer when he joined the ultra conservative Nixon minions ended up getting fired in 1973 once it became clear he would implicate the president in the cover-up. Dean briefly summarizes the takeaways from Comey's testimony and discusses the response by President Trump and his lawyer. They don't know whether to hire lawyers or not, how they're going to pay for them if they do. John Dean: His Watergate testimony took down Nixon. Now Trump is going Stated a bit differently, Special Counsel Mueller has provided this committee a road map. On April 17, 1973, Nixon told Assistant Attorney General Henry Petersen (who was overseeing the Watergate investigation) that he did not want any member of the White House granted immunity from prosecution. No one has sought to control this narrative more than former White House Counsel John Dean. After we settled the case, I started agreeing to do television, Dean said. [12], On March 23, the five Watergate burglars, along with G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, were sentenced with stiff fines and prison time of up to 40 years. The Words Of Watergate | AMERICAN HERITAGE Dean then served as associate director of the National Commission on Reform of Federal Criminal Laws for approximately two years. In the 1979 TV mini-series Blind Ambition, Dean was played by Martin Sheen. But there is no question Mr. McGahn was a critical observer of these activities. [3], Dean married Karla Ann Hennings on February 4, 1962; they had one child, John Wesley Dean IV, before divorcing in 1970. John Dean during the filming of Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal in 2020. And I hasten to add that I learned about obstruction of justice the hard way, by finding myself on the wrong side of the law. 171-181). Watergate, the Bipartisan Struggle for Media Access, and the Growth of Cable Television. He chronicled his White House experiences, with a focus on Watergate, in the memoirs Blind Ambition (1976) and Lost Honor (1982). March 21, 1973: Dean tells Nixon there is a "cancer" on the presidency. This revised plan eventually led to attempts to eavesdrop on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., and to the Watergate scandal. Paperback. Dean finally replied, "You're showing you don't know that subject very well." Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal and his subsequent testimony to Congress as a witness. Yet President Nixon knew that offering such pardons or giving pardons to try to control witnesses in legal proceedings was wrong. Copyright 2008 NPR. He could be embarrassed. Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox was interested in meeting with Dean and planned to do so a few days later, but Cox was fired by Nixon the next day; it was not until a month later that Cox was replaced by Leon Jaworski. I learned this fact from Robert Kutak, with whom I had a friendship from our days when we worked as staffers for Congress. In the summer of 1973, the Watergate hearings held the country spellbound. Speaking of Betty Gilpin, John Dean is practicing his testimony, and Mo is advising him. In addition, it has long been the rule there is no executive privilege attached to criminal or fraudulent activity. It may just be too hot. And that destroys the case.. Dean's lawyer moved to have his sentence reduced and on January 8, Sirica granted the motion, adjusting Dean's sentence to time served, which was four months. We believe Don McGahn is not in a conflict situation in testifying to this Committee, for his duty is to protect the Office of the Presidency, sometimes against the very person in charge of it. John Dean was born in Akron, Ohio, and spent a significant part of his life in Marion. Like Comey, Cox was charged with investigating wrongdoing by the President and his advisors and Cox refused an ultimatum from the White House to limit his access to the secret White House tapes by accepting written transcripts, prepared by the White House and verified by a near deaf senior member of the U.S. Senate, former judge John Stennis, rather than allowing Cox to listen to the tapes. Petersen informed Nixon that this could cause problems for the prosecution of the case, but Nixon publicly announced his position that evening. Howard Hunt told me it would have exonerated Prez Nixon. II, P.117); McGahn discussed matters with others (e.g. Yeah. John Dean, the former White House counsel to Richard Nixon, testified Monday that he sees "remarkable parallels" between Watergate and the findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report . The hearings, recorded by the National Public Affairs Center for Television (NPACT), were broadcast each evening in full, or gavel to gavel, by PBS stations across the nation, so that viewers unable to watch during the day could view the complete proceedings at home. Search by keyword or individual, or browse all episodes by clicking Explore the Collection below the search box. Dean served as White House Counsel for President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. I also told him that it was important that this cancer be removed immediately because it was growing more deadly every day. Through his lawyer, Cohen sought advice from Dean before testifying in 2019 to the House Oversight Committee, where he leveled allegations of criminal wrongdoing by Trump. [46][47], In 2022, Dean said the January 6 Committee had an overwhelming case against Trump.[48]. This appears to have been well understood by McGahn and his lawyer, and I have read news accounts that McGahn has explained this concept to President Trump. untenable at some point. They don't know what their jeopardy is. John Dean sits with his wife, Maureen, waiting to testify before the Senate Select Committee on Watergate in 1973. Silent Coup alleged that Dean masterminded the Watergate burglaries and the Watergate coverup and that the true aim of the burglaries was to seize information implicating Dean and the former Maureen "Mo" Biner (his then-fiance) in a prostitution ring. The targets of the hacking were the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign, from which information was stolen and released to harm the Clinton campaign and in turn would help the Trump campaign. Full text: Watergate's John Dean gives statement on - POLITICO A full cast of characters is available in our Gavel-to-Gavel exhibit. [10][pageneeded]. [33], In speaking engagements in 2014, Dean called Watergate a "lawyers' scandal" that, for all the bad, ushered in needed legal ethics reforms. Dean also appeared before the Watergate grand jury, where he took the Fifth Amendment numerous times to avoid incriminating himself, and in order to save his testimony for the Senate Watergate hearings.[12]. John Dean to testify again about possible presidential obstruction 74-CCC-7004)", Doing Legal, Political, and Historical Research on the Internet: Using Blog Forums, Open Source Dictionaries, and More, "John Dean's Role at Issue in Nixon Tapes Feud", "Watergate's lasting legacy is to legal ethics reform, says John Dean", "John Dean helped bring down Richard Nixon. 5; 3, cl. Richard Nixon's Political Scandal: Researching Watergate in the He admitted supervising payments of "hush money" to the Watergate burglars, notably E. Howard Hunt, and revealed the existence of Nixon's enemies list. Michael Cohen was no John Dean. His hearing didn't change many minds.