Former White House counsel to President Richard Nixon, John Dean, responded to President Donald Trump’s accusation that Dean was nothing more than a “rat” who betrayed his president with a Sunday tweet.
@realDonaldTrump (I still have trouble using the title Mr. President for someone installed by Putin), I doubt you have ANY IDEA what McGahn has told Mueller. Also, Nixon knew I was meeting with prosecutors, b/c I told him. However, he didn’t think I would tell them the truth!
— John Dean (@JohnWDean) August 19, 2018
Trump was reacting to a New Yor Times story that implied current White House counsel Don McGahn had gone behind the president’s back and spoken to Special Counsel Robert Mueller over alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The Times suggested any discourse between McGahn and Mueller would be “unusual,” due to lawyer-client privilege.
“The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Counsel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Counsel, he must be a John Dean type ‘RAT,'” Trump tweeted Sunday. “But I allowed him and all others to testify — I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide.”
The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type “RAT.” But I allowed him and all others to testify – I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2018
Dean became a daily fixture of the televised Watergate hearings of the early 1970s as he provided inside information on how Nixon’s “plumbers” had targeted the president’s political enemies with wiretaps and break-ins.
Dean went to jail after he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.