Time Sep

(Jeff_L) #1
41

Which is why Cohen’s courtroom turn
could be the start of a consequential
even historic period in American
politics. More details of his allegations
against Trump will surely emerge. A
second Manafort trial on charges he
acted as an unregistered foreign agent
will get under way in September. And
eventually Mueller will likely issue
a report detailing everything he has
found about Russia’s 2016 meddling
and whether the Trump campaign was
involved. At which point Democrats
who might control one or both chambers
on Capitol Hill could be expected to
look beyond their own investigations
to impeachment. —With reporting by
ALANA ABRAMSON HALEY SWEETLAND
EDWARDS and KATIE REILLY/NEW
YORK;andMOLLY BALL RYAN TEAGUE
BECKWITH PHILIP ELLIOTTandABBY
VESOULIS/ WASHINGTON □


INTERVIEW

WHAT NIXON LAWYER JOHN


DEAN LEARNED FROM HISTORY


BY OLIVIA B. WAXMAN

PUNDITS LIKE TO MAKEcomparisons
between President Donald Trump and
President Richard Nixon but those links
aren’t usually drawn by Trump himself. An
exception came on Aug. 19 when Trump
tweeted in light of the news that White
House counsel Don McGahn had met
with Robert Mueller’s team that McGahn
wasn’t a “John Dean type ‘RAT.’” Dean
as Nixon’s White House counsel played
a key role—by deciding to cooperate with
prosecutors—in the events leading up to
that President’s resignation. Speaking
to TIME on Aug. 21 Dean said he wished
he’d had an example he could turn to
when he was deciding
what to do back then.
Now he’s playing that
very role—for Michael
Cohen. Dean spoke to
TIME about the news and
what he thinks of his own
return to headlines.

What’s your reaction to
Cohen’s statement that
payments he arranged
during the Trump
campaign were made
“at the direction of the
candidate”?He has
pretty much identiied
the President as a criminal. He said he
did it at his behest. If [Trump] weren’t
President he probably would be named
as a co-conspirator and indicted.

What does that mean for the
comparisons to Watergate?It’s
conspiracy. Watergate was a conspiracy.
This is a campaign conspiracy.

What’s your reaction to the Manafort
trial verdict?It’s not surprising. It’s clear
that the jury went carefully through the
case. It’s an opening shot by the special
counsel. It really sets up the situation
that Manafort was in.

What did you think of Trump calling
you a rat for your role in exposing the
Watergate cover-up?That just didn’t
surprise me at all. Every day he throws

invective at somebody. I was trying
to be the honest guy and stop all this
nonsense of spinning and lying and
twisting history. I was more distressed
or annoyed by him calling the true public
servants who have taken salary cuts to
go to work for Bob Mueller “thugs.”

You’ve recently found yourself back in
the news for something that happened
decades ago. How does it feel to have
gone viral?It’s not surprising. It’s a
culmination of what’s been going on. I
didn’t know when Michael Cohen was
going to plead or work a deal out but
I knew it was imminent
because I was talking to his
lawyer Lanny Davis whom I
know personally and he was
picking my brain as to what
had happened and how
it had all happened back
during Watergate. I wasn’t
giving legal advice just
historical information.

What do you think will
happen next? It’s not clear
unlike Watergate how the
public is going to become
educated about all this.
There is really no equivalent
to the Senate Watergate Committee.
The Republicans just won’t set it up.
They don’t want to inform the public
about this. So as long as they control the
House and Senate they’re not going to.
Let’s say the House goes Democratic
after the election—I suspect we will
learn [about it] through a combination of
oversight committees.

Is there anything you learned during
Watergate that would be useful for
people to keep in mind as the news
develops?It’s early. Watergate went on
for years and it takes time for the public
to one learn; two even get interested
in learning; and three react. That’s one
of the things that Watergate certainly
teaches us. What’s very useful and what
got me through the whole matter was my
belief that the truth ultimately prevails.

The July 9 1973
cover of TIME
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