It was nearly 50 years ago when a young White House counsel to Richard Nixon named John Dean appeared before Congress. In his testimony back in 1973, Dean turned on Nixon and it wasn’t long before the 37th president was out of Washington, resigning in disgrace.
Today, Dean testified before the House Judiciary Committee today saying, “I am not here as a fact witness. Rather I accepted the invitation to appear today because I hope I can give a bit of historical context to the Mueller Report.” That context included an opening statement (watch above) where Dean pointed out:
“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. Stated a bit differently, Special Counsel Mueller has provided this committee a road map.
The Mueller Report, like the Watergate Road Map, conveys findings, with supporting evidence, of potential criminal activity based on the work of federal prosecutors, FBI investigators, and witness testimony before a federal grand jury.”
Dean mentioned former White House counsel Don McGahn more than 25 times during his testimony saying:
“I sincerely hope that Mr. McGahn will voluntarily appear and testify. His silence is perpetuating an ongoing coverup, and while his testimony will create a few political enemies, based on almost 50 years of experience I can assure him he will make far more real friends.”
John Dean to the Judiciary Committee: “I hope that Don McGahn is a key witness before this Committee … His client is the office of the president and I think he owes that office his testimony before this committee.”
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 10, 2019
The q&a portion of the hearing became contentious when several Republicans questioned the Dean. Here are a couple of exchanges where Republicans tried, unsuccessfully to rattle the 80-year-old.
Here's Matt Gaetz's no holds barred match with John Dean. Dean lands a knock out blow right at the end. pic.twitter.com/44l2b8WABT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 10, 2019