Former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean, a key figure in the Watergate scandal, will outline to lawmakers the parallels between Watergate and the 448-page Mueller report into alleged Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.
Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election to help Trump win, Dean will say, according to his prepared testimony, are similar to the operation to break into the Democratic National Committee office in the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C.
Dean is scheduled to appear Monday as the main witness before the House Judiciary Committee, which plans a series of hearings about the Mueller report.
“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,” Dean will tell lawmakers, according to his prepared statement.
Dean, who last testified before the committee in 1974, outlines several comparisons between “the Watergate road map,” and the Mueller report, which he said “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. “
Other comparisons include Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, which Dean compared to Nixon’s “Saturday night massacre” firing of special counsel Archibald Cox.
Dean draws another Watergate comparison with Trump’s move to ask his White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller.
“This is much like Richard Nixon’s attempt to get me to write a phony report exonerating the White House from any involvement in Watergate,” Dean will tell the panel.
Nixon also tried to influence Dean’s testimony after he agreed to cooperate with the Senate Watergate Committee.
Dean is a frequent critic of the president and often appears on cable news to offer his perspective.
Dean was convicted of obstruction of justice over his role in Watergate, which has attracted criticism from Republicans who question the integrity of his testimony.
Much of Dean’s Watergate comparison centers on Volume II of the Mueller report, which addresses obstruction but does not come to any conclusion.
Dean will tell lawmakers he believes the evidence is there.
“I hasten to add that I learned about obstruction of justice the hard way, by finding myself on the wrong side of the law,” Dean will testify.
