Ep. 494 — John Dean

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2022

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Dean, former counsel to President Richard Nixon, was directly involved in covering up the Watergate break-in. But he has also been credited with taking down Nixon, thanks to his critical testimony before the Senate committee investigating the scandal. In recognition of Watergate’s 50th anniversary, John joined David to talk about his professional journey that landed him in the White House at just 31 years old, his involvement in Watergate, parallels between Nixon and Donald Trump, his concerns about the present day Republican Party, and his work on CNN’s “Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Music
0:06.0	And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axe Files, with your host David Axelrod.
0:19.0	50 years ago, this week, a stealthy band of operatives for the Committee to Reelect President Richard Nixon,
0:25.0	burgled the Democratic National Committee offices in a Washington complex called Watergate.
0:30.0	That paper, thwarted by an alert night watchman, and the cover-up that followed, touched off one of the greatest scandals in American history.
0:38.0	It would lead to both criminal and congressional investigations and Richard Nixon's resignation two years later.
0:44.0	The star witness in the case was John Dean, Nixon's young White House counsel, who became what he described as the desk officer for the cover-up.
0:53.0	Dean implicated Nixon and the highest ranking members of his administration.
0:57.0	I sat down with Dean, executive producer and star of CNN's new documentary Watergate Blueprint for a Scandal, to recall those momentous events, and talk about the lessons we should draw today.
1:08.0	Here's that conversation.
1:10.0	Music
1:16.0	John Dean, it's great to see you. Welcome, first of all. Thank you for being here.
1:23.0	I watched your documentary on CNN, which you executive produced, and in which you starred about Watergate and your journey.
1:32.0	It reminded me of my own journey, because I remember being a college kid and watching Watergate unfold in the little television in our dormitory.
1:42.0	My first introduction to you, and most people's first introduction to you, was in that hearing room when what 80 million people were watching.
1:51.0	I think it was 85 million households. How does that translate to more than 85 million people?
1:59.0	More than 85, I guess.
2:01.0	That's an important number to remember, because we have these hearings going on now on the 50th anniversary of Watergate this week. We have hearings going on about the insurrection and the President Trump's role in that insurrection.
2:18.0	These hearings are obviously well researched, very powerful.
2:24.0	But I think 20 million people watched on the first night, and far fewer today, we're talking on Monday.
2:32.0	Given the fact that it was a morning hearing this morning, the West was very early. Now that isn't what happened in the first hearing when they got 20 million people.
2:41.0	But 20 million is still not 85 million households.
	...

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