President Nixons direct interference with the Department of Justice, while facially proper under his Article II constitutional powers, was for the improper purpose of obstructing the investigation. For those of you who lived through Watergate, his name is synonymous with the political intrigue of the 1970s. PRESIDENT: Thats a problem. 8. Dean concludes that conservatism must regenerate itself to remain true to its core ideals of limited government and the rule of law. 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. Dean went to Camp David and did some work on a report, but since he was one of the cover-up's chief participants, the task put him in the difficult position of relating his own involvement as well as that of others; he correctly concluded that higher-ups were fitting him for the role of scapegoat. Well, John Dean has a new book. But he was told by his immediate boss, John Ehrlichman, that his post-White House career would be difficult if he left. Secondly, I believe as an attorney, he has an ethical obligation to testify. Trumps demands for unyielding loyalty from staff and statements such as asking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find 11,780 votes that would overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election in the state rival what was heard on Nixons tapes, but were delivered with far less discretion. Dean is now the last man standing from that era, He is the last connection between this nation's authoritarian past and present. Every and the District of Columbia have adopted a version of these rules. Credit. Nixon first announced on August 29, 1973, that I had investigated the situation under his direction and found nobody presently employed at the White House had anything to do with the bizarre incident at the Watergate. Since I had conducted no such investigation, I resisted months of repeated efforts to get me to write a bogus report. DEAN: . 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. His coverage of the television industry has appeared in TV Guide, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, Fortune, the Hollywood Reporter, Inside.com and Adweek. Dean is a pretty good gem," Nixon confided to Haldeman on March 2, 1973. . They all would have expected to be out and that may put you in a position thats just . [8][pageneeded], On January 27, 1972, Dean, the White House Counsel, met with Jeb Magruder (Deputy Director of the Committee to Re-Elect the President, or CRP and CREEP) and Mitchell (Attorney General of the United States, and soon-to-be Director of CRP), in Mitchell's office, for a presentation by G. Gordon Liddy (counsel for CRP and a former FBI agent). 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. After we settled the case, I started agreeing to do television, Dean said. Mea Culpa welcomes back a very special guest, John Dean. The couple sued and eventually reached an undisclosed settlement. In the 2022 TV mini-series Gaslit, Dean was played by Dan Stevens. 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. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo. Yet President Nixon knew that offering such pardons or giving pardons to try to control witnesses in legal proceedings was wrong. Fifty years later, that's how John Dean, the former White House counsel whose marathon testimony before the US Senate's Watergate Committee tipped the dominoes toward the ultimate resignation . But when Dean surrendered as scheduled on September 3, he was diverted to the custody of U.S. Now he thinks Donald Trump is even worse", "Former White House counsel for Nixon: Trump scarier than Nixon", "John Dean warns Gates's testimony may be 'the end' of Trump's presidency", "Watergate Figure John Dean Says Rick Gates' Testimony Could Be The End Of The Trump Presidency", "Here Is What Brett Kavanaugh Said About Sexual Misconduct In His Hearings", "Kavanaugh hearing: John Dean warns of a Supreme Court overly deferential to presidential power", "John Dean: If Kavanaugh's confirmed, a president who shoots someone on Fifth Avenue can't be prosecuted in office", "Former Nixon White House Counsel Case Against Kavanaugh", "Richard Nixon's White House counsel says Jeff Sessions' ousting 'like a planned murder', "Watergate's John Dean Explains How Trump Planned Sessions' Firing 'Like a Murder' And Details How Mueller Could Protect the Probe", "House Judiciary Committee sets hearing on Mueller report with Nixon White House counsel John Dean", "Dems to call Watergate star John Dean to testify on Mueller report", "Nixon's Watergate lawyer says Trump's 2024 bid is 'a defense of sorts' against Jan 6 indictment but it won't matter because the committee has an 'overwhelming case', John Dean testifying at the Watergate Hearings, Worse Than Watergate: Former Nixon Counsel John Dean Says Bush Should Be Impeached, Doing Legal, Political, and Historical Research on the Internet Using Blog Forums, Open Source Dictionaries, and More, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Dean&oldid=1136144627, 20th-century American non-fiction writers, 21st-century American non-fiction writers, Lawyers disbarred in the Watergate scandal, People convicted in the Watergate scandal, People convicted of obstruction of justice, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking reliable references from May 2021, BLP articles lacking sources from May 2021, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from May 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2021, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from May 2021, BLP articles lacking sources from October 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 January 2023, at 23:30. It's an unpleasant place. John Dean. Watergate prosecutors & Sirica knew John Dean committed many crimes. Chairman Nadler, Ranking Member Collins, the last time I appeared before your committee was . 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. All believed that they could rely on the President to offer clemency under the Presidents pardon power. Weekend Edition revisits audio from Dean's testimony. 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. Records are described at an item level and all records contain brief descriptions and subject terms. Dean was also receiving advice from the attorney he hired, Charles Shaffer, on matters involving the vulnerabilities of other White House staff. 6; cf. John Dean III, a former White House aide in the Nixon administration, is sworn in by Senate Watergate Committee Chairman Sam Ervin (D-N.C.) before testifying on Capitol Hill in this June 25, 1973. Stephen Battaglio writes about television and the media business for the Los Angeles Times out of New York. In the summer of 1973, former White House Counsel John Dean testified as part of the Senate's investigation into the Watergate break-in. In reissuing Blind Ambition, which spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list and has been out of print for over two decades, author John Dean has added a powerful new Afterword, an extended essay in which he explains with the new clarity why (and how . "[35][36], In February 2018, Dean warned that Rick Gates's testimony may be "the end" of Trump's presidency. They don't know if they're a part of a conspiracy that might unfold. Mr. McGahn is the most prominent fact witness regarding obstruction of justice cited in the Mueller 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. The press statement was false. It was a very sympathetic and very believable portrait, said Graff. In a corporation, for example, the attorney would report up to the board of directors or a special committee of the board. I had some unsolicited offers that I really wanted to explore. [5], Dean was employed from 1966 to 1967 as chief minority counsel to the Republicans on the United States House Committee on the Judiciary. Gray said he had given FBI reports to Dean, and had discussed the FBI investigation with Dean on many occasions. Let me briefly address the ethics question. He said, "It's a nightmare. Dean also told the Senate Watergate committee that if testimony by Jeb Stuart Magruder, a former White House aide, was credible, the President probably had advance knowledge of plans to break into . The book claimed Dean had learned about the operation from his wife. It may just be too hot. In Starz's new Gaslit, premiering Sunday, central Watergate figure John Dean is played by Dan Stevens. Mea Culpa welcomes back a very special guest, John Dean. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. [32], On September 17, 2009, Dean appeared on Countdown with new allegations about Watergate. The president lauded his efforts. Dean served as White House Counsel for President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. [26], His next book, released in 2006, was Conservatives without Conscience, a play on Barry Goldwater's book The Conscience of a Conservative. Using Altemeyer's scholarly work, he contends that there is a tendency toward ethically questionable political practices when authoritarians are in power and that the current political situation is dangerously unsound because of it. An . Thats for sure. 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. The examples that follow are illustrative rather than exhaustive, and before turning to obstruction of justice, I must make brief mention of the underlying events to place the material in context: MUELLER REPORT VOLUME I: The underlying crimes were a Russian active measures social media campaign and hacking/dumping operations, which Mueller describes as a sweeping and systematic effort to influence our 2016 presidential election. But there is no question Mr. McGahn was a critical observer of these activities. 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. (1981). They don't know whether to hire lawyers or not, how they're going to pay for them if they do. Murdoch has survived scandal after scandal. Jim Robenalt and I have discussed this at length. Petersen provided Nixon with confidential information from the prosecutors and the grand jury proceedings. MUELLER REPORT RE TERMINATION OF COMEY (PP. Again, McGahns testimony about these events, which are described in detail in the Mueller Report, are important for Congress to understand and, as noted later, claims of executive privilege or attorney-client privilege have been waived (because of disclosure of the Mueller Report authorized by President Trump, and the so-called crime-fraud exception to all privileges). For whatever reason, President Trump did not follow up with the directive to fire Mueller and McGahn did not resign. Neisser, U. $23.91 4 Used from $8.00 3 New from $23.91 1 Collectible from $59.95. This is part one of John W. Dean's testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee. I 2, cl. This sparked a sharp debate with Republican South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who repeatedly asserted that Nixon authorized the break-in at Democratic headquarters. June 27, 2022 05:36 PM. PRESIDENT: Right. 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 . The program, produced by Herzog & Company, delves into the archive of Watergate-related material Dean has accumulated and stored in his Beverly Hills home over the years, including his 60,000-word testimony to a Senate subcommittee originally written in longhand on yellow legal pads. 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. Dean is now the last man standing from that era, He is the last connection between this nation's authoritarian past and present. LOS ANGELES (Tribune News Service) After John Dean gave his historic 1973 testimony on the Watergate scandal that eventually brought down the Nixon White House, he wanted to move on with his life. Modern American History, 3(2-3), 175-198. White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman later claimed that Nixon appointed Dean to take the lead role in coordinating the Watergate cover-up from an early stage and that this cover-up was working very well for many months. 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: This is much like Richard Nixons attempt to get me to write a phony report exonerating the White House from any involvement in Watergate. 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First off . 98-103): According to the report, in June 2017 after emails setting up a June 9, 2016 meeting between senior campaign officials and Russians became known in the White House, the President engaged in efforts to prevent disclosure of the emails and then dictated a false or misleading statement characterizing the meeting as about adoptions in order to protect his son, Don, Jr. WATERGATE: On the weekend that the Nixon reelection committee men were arrested in the DNC offices at the Watergate, Nixons campaign manager, and former attorney general, John Mitchell, along with his chief of staff, Bob Haldeman and former White House Counsel, John Ehrlichman, drafted a false press release about the men arrested at the Watergate. John Dean's statement to the House Judiciary Committee on June 10, 2019, as prepared for delivery. Anchors Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer provided summaries, commentary, and interviews to supplement each broadcast. [24] Also in 2006, Dean appeared as an interviewee in the documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon, about the Nixon administration's efforts to keep John Lennon out of the United States. Deans words on tape can be heard in the British documentary TV series Watergate. Dean finally replied, "You're showing you don't know that subject very well." In addition, it has long been the rule there is no executive privilege attached to criminal or fraudulent activity. 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. Were friends. 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]. Yes, Dean and Mo are still married. 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. They don't know what they're looking at. According to Dean, modern conservatism, specifically on the Christian Right, embraces obedience, inequality, intolerance, and strong intrusive government, in stark contrast to Goldwater's philosophies and policies. 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. Stated a bit differently, Special Counsel Mueller has provided this committee a road map. John W Dean, who served as Mr Nixon's White House . We were in his Executive Office Building office late on a Sunday night when he got up from his chair and walked to the corner of the room and in a stage-whisper asked me, I was wrong to offer clemency to Hunt, wasnt I? I responded, Yes, Mr. President, that would be an obstruction of justice. As I later testified, at the time it struck me his moving across the office and whispering was to keep what he was saying from being picked up by a hidden microphone in the room. WATERGATE: In 1972, the underlying crime was a bungled break-in, illicit photographing of private documents and an attempt to bug the telephones and offices of the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, with plans to do likewise that same night with Nixons most likely Democratic opponent Senator George McGovern, which because of the arrests of five men at the Watergate, did not happen. John Mitchell, Nixon's most trusted adviser and former attorney general, had taken charge of the Committee for the Re-election of the President (CRP) and authorized the Watergate break-in on 17 . The Mueller Report explains in Vol. Dean frequently served as a guest on the former MSNBC and Current TV news program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and The Randi Rhodes Show on Premiere Radio Networks. OLC Op. That didnt happen.. . Continue reading. Michael and John dig deep into Watergate, January 6th, and DOJ. Similarly, when President Nixon met with me on April 15, 1973, after my break with the White House, he raised the concern about the Hunt pardon again. This year Dean will be celebrating another anniversary 50 years of marriage to his wife, Maureen. In Watergate, the lesson learned was that no person, even the President, was above the law. Dean was the first administration official to accuse Nixon of direct involvement with Watergate and the resulting cover-up in press interviews. Because, you know, after everybody PRESIDENT: Thats right. [17] Dean failed to recall any conversations verbatim, and often failed to recall the gist of conversations correctly. (See Separation-of-Powers Principles Support the Conclusion that Congress May Validly Prohibit Corrupt Obstructive Acts Carried Out Through the Presidents Official Powers, MUELLER REPORT, PP. Dean cites the behavior of key members of the Republican leadership, including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Tom DeLay, Newt Gingrich and Bill Frist, as clear evidence of a relationship between modern right-wing conservatism and this authoritarian approach to governance. Gjon Mili . Following my testimony before the Senate in 1973, the American Bar Association began to look anew at its code of legal ethics. Dean served as White House Counsel for President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. 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. Why Netflix is dabbling in livestreaming, How strong is Dominions defamation case against Fox News? The Watergate "master manipulator" said the former president is in trouble after the latest revelations. [9], In late March in Florida, Mitchell approved a scaled-down plan. I always envisioned going in and out of government. Ehrlichman said, John, youll have better job offers after Nixon gets reelected. Yeah, making license plates.. [21] This theory was subsequently the subject of the 1992 A&E Network Investigative Reports series program The Key to Watergate.[22][23]. Watergate Hearings: John Dean's Opening Statement (1973) John Dean's statement 2011-04-07T03:55:01Z Maureen "Mo" Dean is known for sitting stoically just behind her husband during the . The words Nixon used were strikingly like those uttered by President Trump. Dean retired from investment banking in 2000 while continuing to work as an author and lecturer, becoming a columnist for FindLaw's Writ online magazine. . It's written with Bob Altemeyer, and it's titled Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers. [citation needed], On April 6, Dean hired an attorney and began cooperating with Senate Watergate investigators, while continuing to work as Nixon's Chief White House Counsel and participating in cover-up efforts, not disclosing this obvious conflict to Nixon until some time later. Items included in the Television News search service. [4], After graduation, Dean joined Welch & Morgan, a law firm in Washington, D.C., where he was soon accused of conflict of interest violations and fired:[2] he was alleged to have started negotiating his own private deal for a TV station broadcast license, after his firm had assigned him to complete the same task for a client. On this episode of the Mea Culpa Podcast, Michael Cohen welcomes back a very special guest, John Dean. His testimony during the Watergate scandal helped bring down Nixon. [33], In speaking engagements in 2014, Dean called Watergate a "lawyers' scandal" that, for all the bad, ushered in needed legal ethics reforms. June 1, 2022 1:43 PM PT. John Dean, the White House counsel to President Richard M. Nixon who was once dubbed the "master manipulator" of the Watergate scandal by the FBI, predicts . He was trying to shape my future testimony. Meanwhile, John Dean (Dan Stevens) was reportedly aware of the break-in plans and later tried to cover it all up. Michael and John dig deep into Watergate, January 6th, and DOJ. An obstruction of justice conviction prevented the former White House counsel from practicing law in Washington, D.C., and Virginia. (See U.S. Check out this great listen on Audible.com. April 6, 1973: White House counsel John Dean begins cooperating with federal Watergate prosecutors. II, P.117); McGahn discussed matters with others (e.g. He's penned five books about Watergate and 10 books in total; including his most recent tome, Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and his Followers. If it was a county sheriff they wouldnt [stay], Dean said. [37][38], In September 2018, Dean warned against Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the United States Supreme Court,[39][40][41] a main concern being that the appointment would result in "the most presidential-powers-friendly court" in modern times. The coverage includes testimony from James McCord and E. Howard Hunt, two of the men arrested for breaking into the Watergate complex; John Dean, White House counsel from July 1970 to April 1973, who detailed the extent of the Nixon administrations involvement in the burglary and subsequent cover-up; Chief of Staff H.R. WATERGATE: The Comey firing echoes Nixons firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox in the infamous Saturday Night Massacre in October 1973. The turning point came with the testimony of former White House counsel John Dean, whose weeklong account of Nixon's . Dean insisted that Cohen be included in the series. But I think he could experience shame. And youre gonna have the clemency problem for the others. . The following year, he became an associate deputy in the office of the Attorney General of the United States, serving under Attorney General John N. Mitchell, with whom he was on friendly terms. Senator Barry Goldwater, in part as an act of fealty to the man who defined his political ideals. The materials were contributed to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) by the Library of Congress in 2017. My telling the Senate Watergate Committee of how so many lawyers found themselves on the wrong side of the law during Watergate hit a chord. Armed with newspaper articles indicating the White House had possession of FBI Watergate files, committee chair Sam Ervin asked Gray what he knew about the White House obtaining the files. I havent and maybe Im not creative enough, Dean said. 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? 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. And that destroys the case.. [30], In 2008, Dean co-edited Pure Goldwater, a collection of writings by the 1964 Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. After listening to Nixons March 21, 1973 secretly recorded conversation with me, Jaworski pursued more tapes as vigorously as had Cox. He resides in Beverly Hills, California. Continuous coverage of the Watergate hearings in 1973 drew big audiences and viewer contributions. (Following Coxs firing, a dozen plus bills calling for Nixons impeachment or creating a special prosecutor were filed in the House. Howard Hunt told me it would have exonerated Prez Nixon. Yet events in both 1972 and 2016 resulted in obstruction of the investigations. 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. 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. In the preface to his 2006 book Conservatives Without Conscience, Dean strongly denied Colodny's theory, pointing out that Colodny's chief source (Phillip Mackin Bailley) had been in and out of mental institutions. . Rep. Collins calls John Dean the 'godfather' of obstruction of justice, John Dean considers Watergate a roadmap for Mueller Report. It's written with Bob Altemeyer, and it's titled Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers. Liddy was ordered to scale down his ideas, and he presented a revised plan to the same group on February 4, which was also left unapproved. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Fired white House counsel John Dean testifies before the Senate Watergate Committee while his wife, Maureen, watches in Washington, June 28, 1973. Blind Ambition was ghostwritten by future Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Taylor Branch[20] and later made into a 1979 TV miniseries. [1] His family moved to Flossmoor, Illinois, where he attended grade school. Paperback. Legal experts weigh in, ChatGPT who? John Dean, former counsel to President Richard M. Nixon, testifies before the Senate committee on the Watergate hearing in D.C. on June 27, 1973. I never dreamed I would have to live in this bubble, Dean, 83, said in a Zoom interview from his Beverly Hills home. [34], Dean later emerged as a strong critic of Donald Trump, saying in 2017 that he was even worse than Nixon. Model Rule 1.13 provides that a lawyer representing an organization represents the entity and not the individuals running the entity. Yeah. In 2006, he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee investigating George W. Bush's NSA warrantless wiretap program. Such testimony against Nixon, while damaging to the president's credibility, had little legal impact, as it was merely his word against Nixon's.