John Dean Testifies At House Judiciary Hearing On The Mueller Report

The House Judiciary Committee kicked off a series of hearings on the Mueller report with former Nixon White House counsel John Dean and former U.S. attorneys testifying Monday to offer their insights on President Trump's "most overt acts of obstruction."

Dean is best known for his bombshell testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities during the Watergate scandal, which paved the way for Nixon's dramatic resignation from office.

Dean testified that there were "exhaustive" and "remarkable" parallels between special counsel Robert Mueller's report and the findings compiled in the wake of the Watergate scandal. He said "events in both 1972 and 2016 resulted in obstruction of the investigations."

Dean said he had served as an "active participant" in the Watergate cover-up, contrasting his role to that of ex-White House counsel Don McGahn, who Dean said "was a critical observer" of obstruction attempts in the White House.

The nearly two-year long probe into Mr. Trump's alleged ties to Moscow came to an official close late last month after Mueller announced his resignation from the Department of Justice and the closure of the special counsel's office. The Judiciary Committee has already held two public hearings about the special counsel's report, and another on Democrats' ongoing concerns over possible abuse of executive authority.

Committee chair Rep. Jerry Nadler said the hearings would further allow Congress to "examine the findings laid out in Mueller's report so that we can work to protect the rule of law and protect future elections through consideration of legislative and other remedies."

Nadler added in a statement that "given the threat posed by the President's alleged misconduct, our first hearing will focus on President Trump's most overt acts of obstruction. In the coming weeks, other hearings will focus on other important aspects of the Mueller report."

Nadler says committee has "responsibility" to hold hearings

Committee chairman Jerry Nadler said his panel has an obligation to investigate "who stood to benefit from the attack" on the U.S. election system "and the extent to which the Trump campaign welcomed it." 

He added that the committee has a responsibility to do this work, to follow the facts where they lead...and to craft legislation to make certain no president, Democrat or Republican can ever act in this way ever again." Nadler also noted the political divides the Russia probe has since created in Washington, saying that both parties should at least proceed with a common understanding that the U.S. was attacked. 

"We were attacked by a foreign adversary. President Trump's campaign took full advantage of the attack when it came.  The descriptions of obstruction of justice in Volume II go to the heart of our legal system. If we can agree on this common set of facts as our starting place, and agree to follow the facts and the law where they take us, I believe we can make a great deal of progress in this hearing today," he said.