Volatile Trump more dangerous than Nixon, says Watergate aide
DONALD TRUMP’S unpredictability makes him more dangerous than Richard Nixon, says a former White House attorney.
John Dean, who helped in the Watergate cover-up before cooperating with investigators against the only president to resign from office, said the inquiry by Robert Mueller into the current administration could end up being more damaging to the US than the scandal that brought down Nixon in 1974.
Mr Dean’s central role in the coverup that led the president to resign gives him a unique insight into the pressure mounting on the White House and the parallels that span the decades.
He told The Daily Telegraph that Nixon was, like Mr Trump, “an authoritarian personality”. But there were important differences – mainly that Nixon understood the presidency better.
“They’re very different in their perception of the president’s authority,” he said. “Trump is more dangerous because he doesn’t know what he’s doing. The danger is he could do anything.”
In Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff ’s exposé of Trump’s White House, Mr Trump was said to be a “John Dean freak”, comparing him to James Comey, whom Mr Trump fired as head of the FBI. “Comey was a rat,” said Mr Trump, according to the book. He then added: “John Dean. John Dean. Do you know what John Dean did to Nixon?”
Mr Dean, now 79, said he was pleased to be the focus of Mr Trump’s ire. He said: “It means that maybe somebody’s reminding him that everything he’s doing
‘Firing Comey was about as ham-handed as you can get; not dissimilar from Nixon telling CIA to block the FBI’
may be worse than Watergate, that maybe he’s thinking about it.”
Nixon was competent but dishonest, while Mr Trump appeared to be incompetent and dishonest, he added.
The Mueller investigation is looking into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mr Dean said there were similarities in that Watergate began with a breakin at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, while “Russiagate” started with a hack of the committee’s computers.
In both cases, a special counsel was brought in and there were signs of a White House cover-up.
It was surprising how little the current administration appeared to have learned from the past in how to handle a special counsel investigation. “There are lots of echoes of Watergate,” Mr Dean said.
“The firing of Comey by Trump was a terrific blunder, about as ham-handed as you can get, and not dissimilar from Nixon asking the CIA to block the FBI investigation into the Watergate breakin,” he said.
He added that current White House aides would be under intense pressure to cooperate with Mr Mueller.
“They’ve signed non-disclosure agreements but if they’re in front of a grand jury and they lie …”
Mr Dean, who after Watergate became an investment banker and author in Los Angeles, said Mr Trump should not expect an end to the Mueller investigation soon.
It was more than two years from the Watergate burglary in June 1972 to Nixon’s resignation in August 1974.