Dean: Trump, Nixon alike on obstruction

WASHINGTON — Watergate witness John Dean appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Monday and said there were similarities between acts of obstruction by President Donald Trump and those that brought down Richard Nixon more than four decades ago.

Dean, who served as White House counsel under Nixon, told the committee that special counsel Robert Mueller gave “this committee a road map” to open an impeachment inquiry of Trump for his efforts to obstruct the probe into Russian meddling in the last presidential election.

A star witness in the Watergate hearings in 1974, Dean said Trump dangled pardons to stop aides from cooperating with Mueller and testifying about incidents that included an order to White House counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller, and then to create a false narrative after the order was disclosed in the media.

“Richard Nixon used the pardon in a similar way,” said Dean, whose testimony before the Judiciary Committee was pivotal in the impeachment of the former president on obstruction charges.

Dean’s testimony clearly rankled the president, who for a second day lashed out on Twitter on “the disgraced Nixon White House Counsel who is a paid CNN contributor. No Collusion - No Obstruction!”

Before the hearing began, Trump called Dean a “sleazebag attorney” in a Tweet.

Asked why he chose to testify, Dean said he had a knot in his stomach the day Trump received the Republican presidential nomination and worried for the country.

“These are troubled times,” Dean said.

Hearings could lead to impeachment

Dean was one of several legal witnesses called to appear before the committee by Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who is holding a series of hearings that could likely lead to an impeachment inquiry of Trump.

Nadler said the committee hearings would review the Mueller report, which found that Russians interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Mueller discovered no evidence that the president colluded with Russian intelligence officials in that effort.

But Mueller’s report described 10 damaging incidents in which Trump tried to obstruct the probe. The special counsel pointedly stated it could not exonerate the president for obstruction, and left it to Congress to pursue future action.

Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the ranking Republican on the panel, was quick to note that none of the legal experts appearing before the committee were “fact witnesses” and were merely offering conjecture and observations.

“I feel like I’m back in law school,” he said.

Collins also sought to discredit Dean, calling him the “70’s star of obstruction” for Nixon administration efforts to cover up the Watergate complex burglary of the Democratic National Committee office.

He chided Democrats for calling as a witness the former White House counsel, who did not go to prison but served a reduced sentence of four months at a former Army base in Baltimore in exchange for testimony about Nixon and the Watergate scandal.

“I believe they have the Godfather here today, Mr. Dean,” Collins said.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, produced a number of Dean’s tweets that were critical of Trump, including one that featured a picture of Dean and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., following a conversation between the two about impeachment.

Mueller probe fell short

Heritage Foundation legal fellow John Malcolm, a witness called by Republicans, testified that Mueller failed to do his duty as special counsel in rendering an opinion on obstruction and leaving the issue to Attorney General William Barr.

But former federal prosecutors Joyce White Vance of Alabama and Barbara McQuade of Michigan, who along with Dean were invited to appear by Democrats on the panel, said Trump’s attempts to thwart the investigation would have limited the probe’s conclusion on Russian interference.

McQuade said Trump committed acts “that threatened national security.”

Both McQuade and Vance said Trump’s attempts to obstruct the investigation show intent to break the law. McQuade said Mueller’s report spelled out the evidence of obstruction “and left it to Congress to decide whether impeachment was appropriate.”

Dean said Trump alone among presidents was comparable to Nixon in attempts to obstruct an investigation into inappropriate acts. In written testimony, he detailed six specific similarities that included attempts to muzzle investigators through firings.

Nadler called the hearing as House Democrats try to dramatize the Mueller report findings and lay the groundwork for an impeachment inquiry. He said he expects to bring Mueller before the committee to testify.

Democrats divided

Democrats are divided on impeachment, with liberal-leaning lawmakers in the party favoring hearings and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., urging a methodical process using committees to build a case against the president and explain to the public the need to take divisive political action.

Only one Republican in the House has called for impeachment, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have signaled any House action against the president is dead in the upper legislative chamber.

Nevada Democrats in the House, Dina Titus, Steven Horsford and Susie Lee, have backed Pelosi’s approach and want Mueller to testify before the Judiciary Committee about his investigation and report.

Titus is leading one investigation into the president’s business dealings and whether he is profiting from his Washington hotel, in violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution. Trump, through private lawyers and the Justice Department, say there is no wrongdoing on the part of the president.

Rep. Mark Amodei, the lone Nevada Republican in the House, told the Review-Journal he is more focused on issues important to his Northern Nevada congressional district and said “it’s hard to play Perry Mason” with committee hearings when witnesses testify in five-minute snippets.

He said it appears the congressional inquiries “appear adversarial.”

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 20-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.