John Dean, who served as White House counsel to President Richard Nixon, on Monday summed up the latest indictment of former President Donald Trump by saying: “It’s much bigger than Watergate.”
Trump was indicted in Georgia for allegedly trying to pressure election officials in the state to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
“It’s of a whole different dimension. It goes to the very foundation of democracy,” Dean said of the new case against Trump.
“Nixon abused some powers, he exceeded his authority when he shouldn’t but he wasn’t taking on the basics of the country,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
“Trump wanted to stay in office,” he added.“He wanted to use Georgia and abuse Georgia as part of that plan so this is very different and much more serious and much more troubling.”
Dean suggested it was “very likely” that one or more of those also indicted in the case — including former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — would flip and cooperate with prosecutors, like Dean did on Nixon and for which he earned the Watergate “master manipulator” moniker.
Watch Dean’s comments here:
