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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. Former Trump officials have been criticized for waiting to express their misgivings over what was happening in the White House until after they left and made book deals. I 2, cl. [11], On March 22, 1973, Nixon requested that Dean put together a report with everything he knew about the Watergate matter, inviting him to take a retreat to Camp David to do so. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 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. Cognition, 9(1), 122. 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. June 1, 2022 1:43 PM PT. But when Dean surrendered as scheduled on September 3, he was diverted to the custody of U.S. This sparked a sharp debate with Republican South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who repeatedly asserted that Nixon authorized the break-in at Democratic headquarters. It was a very sympathetic and very believable portrait, said Graff. [citation needed], On June 25, 1973, Dean began his testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee. 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. Dean served as White House Counsel for President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until Ap. All except Parkinson were convicted, largely based upon Dean's evidence. 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. II, P. DEAN: Thats right. 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. Dean served as White House Counsel for President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. 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. He studied at Colgate University and the College of Wooster in Ohio before earning a Juris Doctor (J.D.) Weekend Edition revisits audio from Dean's testimony. But on March 21, 1973, he went to the Oval Office and told Nixon there was "a cancer " on the presidency that would take them all down they didn't . 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. Dean has been particularly critical of the party's support of Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, and of neoconservatism, strong executive power, mass surveillance, and the Iraq War. [44][45], In early June 2019, Dean testified, along with various U.S. attorneys and legal experts, before the House Judiciary Committee on the implications of, and potential actions as a result of, the Mueller report. On August 2, 1974, Sirica handed down a sentence to Dean of one to four years in a minimum-security prison. Nixon chose not to disclose the information he did have in order to protect his friend Mitchell, believing that revealing this truth would destroy Mitchell. Senator Russell Feingold, who sponsored the censure resolution, introduced Dean as a "patriot" who put "rule of law above the interests of the president." Paperback. Well, John Dean has a new book. I learned this fact from Robert Kutak, with whom I had a friendship from our days when we worked as staffers for Congress. . Well, John Dean has a new book. For whatever reason, President Trump did not follow up with the directive to fire Mueller and McGahn did not resign. Jim Robenalt and I have discussed this at length. But Dean understands how its not so easy to walk away from the center of power. Weekend Edition revisits audio from Dean's testimony. 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. (Following Coxs firing, a dozen plus bills calling for Nixons impeachment or creating a special prosecutor were filed in the House. If the Watergate scandal happened today, Dean believes Fox News and other conservative outlets would give more oxygen to Nixons defenders and perhaps enable the disgraced president to at least finish out his term instead of resigning. 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]. Stated a bit differently, Special Counsel Mueller has provided this committee a road map. 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. As Dan mentioned, in the summer of 1973, former White House counsel John Dean testified as part of the Senate's investigation into the Watergate break-in. [28] On March 31, 2006, Dean testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during hearings on censuring Bush over the issue. For high school, he attended Staunton Military Academy with Barry Goldwater Jr., the son of Sen. Barry Goldwater, and became a close friend of the family. And by early February 1974, this Committee formally commenced impeachment proceedings.) In the 2022 TV mini-series Gaslit, Dean was played by Dan Stevens. Don McGahn represented the Office of the Presidency, not Donald Trump personally. With his plea to felony offenses, Dean was disbarred as a lawyer in Virginia and the District of Columbia.[18][19]. PRESIDENT: No, it would be wrong. PRESIDENT: You cant do it, till after the 74 elections, thats for sure. The investigation revealed that Nixon had a tape-recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations. 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.. And politically, itd just be impossible for, you know, you to do it. 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 . Dean's first wife is Karla Ann Hennings, whom he married in 1962. 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. Continue reading. 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 administration's involvement in the burglary and subsequent cover-up; Chief of Staff H.R. The case of Dean vs. Liddy was dismissed without prejudice. In it, he asserts that post-Goldwater conservatism has been co-opted by people with authoritarian personalities and policies, citing data from Bob Altemeyer. 171-181). He's penned five books about Watergate and 10 books in total; including his most recent tome, Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and his Followers. One was destroying evidence. DEAN: . . John W. Dean (center) with his wife, Maureen, and John's lawyer, Charles N. Shaffer, in 1974. Dean's testimony to the Senate the year before implicated Nixon in the Watergate affair. Michael and John dig deep into Watergate, January 6th, and DOJ. . Yes, Dean and Mo are still married. [Emphasis added.]. [9], In late March in Florida, Mitchell approved a scaled-down plan. 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. In his testimony, he implicated administration officials, including Mitchell, Nixon, and himself. [27], After it became known that Bush authorized NSA wiretaps without warrants, Dean asserted that Bush is "the first President to admit to an impeachable offense". All rights reserved. Nixon fired Dean on April 30, the same day he announced the resignations of Haldeman and Ehrlichman. One of the major clarifications that came about through the new ABA Model Rules was with respect to an attorneys obligations when representing an organization. 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. In 1992, Dean hired attorney Neil Papiano and brought the first in a series of defamation suits against Liddy for claims in Liddy's book Will, and St. Martin's Press for its publication of the book Silent Coup by Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin. March 23, 1973: The McCord letter is made public by Judge Sirica in open court at McCord's sentencing hearing. [1] His family moved to Flossmoor, Illinois, where he attended grade school. II, p. 1 that one of the reasons the Special Counsel did not make charging decisions relating to obstruction of justice was because he did not want to potentially preempt [the] constitutional processes for addressing presidential misconduct. The report then cites at footnote 2: See U.S. CONST.