JOHN DEAN: Well, his rationale for how he handled the Clinton investigation vs. vis-a-vis the Trump investigation, where he disclosed one publicly and didn’t disclose the other, is — the rationale has been so thin, and the differences are really so inconsequential, that it made most — really no sense to what he was saying.
So, now when he gets up and bolsters his case with bogus evidence, he looks really bad. And he doesn’t look like a director with an even hand should look. So, I don’t know what Sessions — I didn’t hear anything about what Sessions’ position was, but I thought he was in trouble. I mean, that was just in the air to me.
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JUDY WOODRUFF: Exactly.
Now, John Dean — we’re on the phone with John Dean, who, of course, was the White House counsel to Richard Nixon.
There are going to be a number of comparisons drawn out of this, one of them, of course, the Saturday night — so-called “Saturday Night Massacre,†when President Nixon fired his attorney general and others because they wouldn’t carry out his wishes in the time of Watergate.
Any connection with that, or is this a completely different set of circumstances?
JOHN DEAN: I think this is different, Judy. I think it doesn’t have any of that kind of feel.
Archibald Cox was defying the president and taking his own course of action and taking a — making a decision that was very much placing Nixon in jeopardy. So, I don’t think we have any similarities here.
invite response
JOHN DEAN: Well, his rationale for how he handled the Clinton investigation vs. vis-a-vis the Trump investigation, where he disclosed one publicly and didn’t disclose the other, is — the rationale has been so thin, and the differences are really so inconsequential, that it made most — really no sense to what he was saying.
So, now when he gets up and bolsters his case with bogus evidence, he looks really bad. And he doesn’t look like a director with an even hand should look. So, I don’t know what Sessions — I didn’t hear anything about what Sessions’ position was, but I thought he was in trouble. I mean, that was just in the air to me.
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JUDY WOODRUFF: Exactly.
Now, John Dean — we’re on the phone with John Dean, who, of course, was the White House counsel to Richard Nixon.
There are going to be a number of comparisons drawn out of this, one of them, of course, the Saturday night — so-called “Saturday Night Massacre,†when President Nixon fired his attorney general and others because they wouldn’t carry out his wishes in the time of Watergate.
Any connection with that, or is this a completely different set of circumstances?
JOHN DEAN: I think this is different, Judy. I think it doesn’t have any of that kind of feel.
Archibald Cox was defying the president and taking his own course of action and taking a — making a decision that was very much placing Nixon in jeopardy. So, I don’t think we have any similarities here.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/comey-firing-appears-center-handling-clinton-email-case/
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