John Dean
The Guardian
What holds, and what fails, under pressure, standards and accountability.
John Dean is a former White House Counsel who played a pivotal role during the Watergate scandal. This interview highlights his commitment to ethical leadership and the lessons learned from navigating complex political landscapes.
“And as circusy as it would be, get a fair trial. How do you find a jury that can even make those deliberations knowing that this is the first president to ever be in front of a jury? I think Georgia might do it, and that's where it should happen at a lower level than at the national level.”
“Right. He was intimately familiar with the immunity statute and had said to Charlie, if John has the kind of testimony I think he does, he fits as a ideal person to immunize. There is just no way the government could have prosecuted me. Charlie was confident of that had I decided not to plead. But I had decided to plead from the get-go.”
“While I was working at the White House, I did an operation for Ehrlichman, a national security operation, where we broke into Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office. Two of the men I used in California at that operation are now in jail because I used them at the Watergate. He said, we need to get those men out of jail.”
“Well, I saw this handsome guy who people admired and he got along great with his colleagues. We know that because when he did pass away long after I'd first met him, they had to fill two planes to come out to his funeral. He was very popular, but he was good company. He took up Barry Jr. and I around the Senate, so we saw him in action.”
The Axe Files with David Axelrod — Ep. 494 — John Dean
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