During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday, Democrats hauled in a former White House counsel to Richard Nixon, John Dean, to testify on obstruction of justice as they pursue impeachment of Donald Trump. Republican members of Congress criticized Dean, a CNN contributor and author, who is often called on to compare the Russia investigation (or anything Democrats don’t like) to Watergate.
Just as Democrats had hoped, Dean testified on the “remarkable parallels” between Watergate and the findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. In fact, Dean, a convicted felon, has repeatedly charged that past Republican presidencies, including Reagan, Bush, and now Trump, are “worse than Watergate.” Dean argued that “events in both 1972 and 2016 resulted in obstruction of the investigations.”
During Monday’s hearing, Rep. Matt Gaetz called out Dean’s unoriginal claims, and noted his appearance as a “prop.”
“Mr. Dean has made a cottage industry out of accusing presidents of acting like Richard Nixon. I would like to know how much money he makes based on making these accusations and exploiting them for his own economic benefit,” Gaetz said.
“It’s not by choice that I’ve done a lot of this. It’s that I’ve been dragged into it,” Dean protested.
“Who forced you — who forced you to accuse George W. Bush of being Richard Nixon?” Gaetz asked.
Indeed, Dean has written and profited from his book, “Worse than Watergate” which makes the case that both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should have been impeached for lying to Congress.
Rep. Jim Jordan, also fed up with Democrats’ futile hearings and witnesses, caught Dean in a web of lies and called him out for advising Lanny Davis, Michael Cohen’s lawyer, to obstruct Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee.
“Today Chairman Nadler brings in front of the judiciary committee a guy to talk about obstruction of justice, a guy who went to prison in 1974 for obstructing justice,” Jordan said.
Rep. Jordan calls out John Dean for advising Lanny Davis to obstruct House Committeehttps://t.co/9tc3VMs0p1 pic.twitter.com/pDWvqRzuge
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 10, 2019
In 1973, Dean testified before the Senate Watergate Committee against Nixon, and went on to serve four months in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal. Rep. Doug Collins called Dean the “’70s star of obstruction.”
“This committee is now hearing from the ’70s and they want their star witness back. In fact, it is very difficult for one of the witnesses here today, for many of us who could actually trace the distrust in government back to the witness here today. The ‘70s star of obstruction,” Collins said.
On Twitter, President Trump suggested that Democrats are using Dean as a prop to “do over” the results of the Mueller report.
….No Obstruction. The Dems were devastated – after all this time and money spent ($40,000,000), the Mueller Report was a disaster for them. But they want a Redo, or Do Over. They are even bringing in @CNN sleazebag attorney John Dean. Sorry, no Do Overs – Go back to work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2019
