but right now, i want to turn to john dean who obviously served as white house counsel under nixon and a witness for watergate prosecutors. dean providing that public testimony the senate watergate committee that kusd the attorney general and richard nixon of wrongdoing. >> when you look at the personality and the emotion vofdz, we'll get to the law. do you see parallels between how richard nixon acted either at the beginning, middle or end of watergate and what we know about donald trump's state of mind? >> i do see similarities in the personality. it is complex. the similarity they're both authoritarian personalities. nixon much more so in private. and trump very open and clearly ran on his autocratic instirvegts and powerful strong man stances. the differences is and what frightens me most about trumpcy was frightened about nixon. i always thought he would obey the law. i'm not so sure about trump. they don't have anywhere near the competence to be president. nixon was highly competent. had been vice president than in the house and senate. when you say in the end you felt nixon woul

obstruction of justice, and i think they had decided he was going to be the sacrificial lamb. >> john deanr his head. and then when he realized this ship is going down, he jumped. >> this morning, without the president's approval, dean issued a statement in which, among other things, he declared some may hope or think i will become a scapegoat in the watergate case. anyone who believes this, dean added, does not know me, know the true facts, nor understand >> do you havenformation implicating president nixon in a ver-? >> i have no comment this morning. i'm sorry. >> we started having secret conversations with john dean. he was disclosing this sprawling conspiracy, to put it mildly. >> when i broke rank and started dealing with the prosecutors in early april, i had the naive belief that by breaking rank, they would do likewise. >> john dean kept upping the ante. i want immunity. okay, i'll tell you this. as we were leaving, i just remember this. he said, john has something to tell you. and dean told us that this same group had broken into the office of ellsberg's psychiatrist. he says, oh,

now, john dean, we're on the phone with general 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 this 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? >> 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... making a decision that was very much placing nixon in jeopardy. so i don't think we have any similarities here. >> woodruff: and just refresh our memory on the role of the f.b.i. director. this is intended to be an independent position, is it not? i'm asking to remind everyone that the f.b.i. is conducting a critical investigation right now into any connections between the trump campaign for president and russian officials. >> well, it was post-watergate that they indeed, after

john dean, thank you very much for joining us tonight. really appreciate it.tarts right now. >>> tonight why was james comey fired, and why now? and how long was this in the works? new reporting on what was going on in the west wing at this hour. >>> plus mike flynn subpoenaed by the senate intelligence committee after refusing to hand over documents related to russia. speaking of which, the two sergeis. the russians who visited the oval office today, photographed only by russian media. that was before nixon's secretary of state stopped by. and that's the

the fbi director has to be loyal to the constitution and the american people, as john dean said. >> john, how concerned are you that the president will demand loyalty from the next fbi director? >> well, there's a real possibility. i'm told this is one of his business operating procedures, where he asks people if they could be loyal and indeed extract nondisclosure agreements out of them as well. he didn't go that far with comey. but i think it will be very telling his selection for the fbi director. that agency just does not need to be ruffled further and it will demoralize it if indeed he doesn't give them a really stellar appointee. >> "the wall street journal" is reporting the treasury department unit is focusing on money laundering and will share financial record with the senate intelligence committee to aid into the investigation into possible ties between the trump campaign and russia. a former trump adviser paul manafort's bank records are being sought in the probe. what do you think of this, john? >> well, it's unusual. indeed they have the right and the power to do that. it a c

the shades of nixon with john dean. what all of this means for the russia investigation and what it means for american government when "all in" starts right now.

john dean, thank you so much for being on.y appreciate it. >> thank you. >>> coming up, how the right-wing media is covering the mess the president's in pretty much boils down to one, it's a witch hunt, two, what about obama, three, oh, yeah, comey might have been drunk. we'll explain that ahead. yeah okay so. i can just quit school and get a job. it's ok. daddy's here. daddy. hey. hi. hey buddy hey dad i think we can do this. really? adam baily. adam baily. on mattress firmness? fortunately there's a bed where you both get what you want every night. enter sleep number and the semi-annual sale going on now. sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. she likes the bed soft. he's more hardcore. so your sleep goes from good to great to wow! only at a sleep number store. oh, and right now it's our lowest price ever on our temperature balancing i8 bed. save $700. go to sleepnumber.com for a store near you. heri think i might burst..... totally immersed weekenders. whatever kind of weekender y

the fbi director has to be loyal to the constitution and the american people, as john dean said. >> johnhow concerned are you that the president will demand loyalty from the next fbi director? >> well, there's a real possibility. i'm told this is one of his business operating procedures, where he asks people if they could be loyal and indeed extra extract nondisclosure agreements out of them as well. he didn't go that far with comey. but i think it will be very telling his selection for the fbi director. that agency just does not need to be ruffled further and it will demoralize it if indeed he doesn't give them a really stellar appointee. >> "the wall street journal" is reporting the treasury department unit is focusing on money laundering and will share financial record with the senate intelligence committee to aid into the investigation into possible ties between the trump campaign and russia. a former trump adviser paul manafort's bank records are being saw tought in the probe. what do you think of this, john? >> well, it's unusual. indeed they have the right and the power to do that

john dean, thank you so much for being on.ciate it. >> thank you. >>> coming up, how the right-wing media is covering the mess the president's in pretty much boils down to one, it's a witch hunt, two, what about obama, three, oh, yeah, comey might have been drunk. we'll explain that ahead. dear predictable, there's no other way to say this. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced, our senses awake, our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say: if you love something... set it free. see you around, giulia ♪ this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams. they're handing us more than mail. they're handing us their business. and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country we never forget... that your business is our business. the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ your only worry...ty customer first guarantee... will be choosing w

john dean was in the thick of that drama when he was president nixon's white house counsel. house descended into darkness and criminal conspiracy. he knows what a white house in collapse feels like and john dean delivered the single most memorable line of testimony. >> i began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency and if the cancer was not removed the president himself would be killed by it. >> john dean will join us next. because of rogue, the best selling suv in america. ♪ titan, with america's best truck warranty. ♪ and the most advanced safety features on altima and other best selling models. ♪ that's why we're america's fastest-growing autorand. get 0% financing for up to 72 months on 11 models. ♪ it's your glass of willpower that helps keep cravings... ...far, far away. feel less hungry with the natural fiber in clinically... ...proven meta appetite control. from metamucil. yet up 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more. add one a day 50+ a complete multi-vitamin with 100% daily value of more than 15 k

also, i spoke with john dean last week and we talked about the watergate era. i was an intern on capitol hill during that period. and we talked about from nixon to trump and so on may 21st john dean will be in my direction at 2:00 at the martin luther king middle school and we'll have john dean and malcolm x talk about what is taking place and the comparisons and what we need to know as it relates to really this being a defining moment in terms of our democracy. >> one of the lines in the letter he sent to the director, former director now, caught my attention. it says while i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that i am not under investigation. those are the presidents words in that letter. it seems as if if he was asking whether or not he was involved at all in the investigation as a president. if there was communication between those two, and the same goes for the former director as well and that he was telling the president this. what do you think of that? >> it's crazy, first of all. this is erratic, it's bizarre. i don't quite

like to say i'm very glad he didn't burn the tapes because if it had come down to his word against john dean's word, i'm afraid the benefit of the doubt would have gone to him. and it was when dean testified, he didn't know that he had been recorded. so he testified openly and honestly, and 100% accurately. and no one would have believed him if he hadn't been corroborated by the tapes. i think that's the wrong lesson to take from this. and of course, once they're subpoenaed, and i know here it hasn't exactly been subpoenaed. but it's under request. i think that it could be considered obstruction and could be an impeachable offense for him to destroy the tapes if in fact it wasn't just a hollow boast, but actually was something that exists. >> and on that note of another possible impeachable offense, we're going to squeeze in a break here. all of our guests are staying with us. we're going to be right back. for 10 years my tempur-pedic has adapted to my weight and shape. so i sleep deeply and wake up ready to perform. now through june 11th, save $600 when you buy select tempur-pedic adjustable

just a fascinating conversation to here john dean say that. >> i'm going to boo go back and watch it.> use technology, don't be aprayed of it, download the show and watch it. leslie stall's book out in paper back is called "becoming grandma kwts new york times best seller pick it up eye promise you you'll enjoy it. good to have you on. >>> up next, filmmaker john waters. stay with us. >>> fill maker writer actor has been a fixture on the hollywood scene for decades he's known for his films including "pink flamingo", kwt serial mom" and others. his new sbook called "make trouble" how could you not love that cover. before we start our conversation i look back at some of his iconic films. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ bless ♪ ♪ ♪ >> you can't wear white shoes after labor day anymore. >> that's not true. >> yes it is. didn't your mother ever tell you? now you know. >> no, please, fashion has changed. >> no, it hasn't. >> they call these one half dimension about that of course patty hurst. >> she's great. she's a good stunt woman. you see hoer. kathleen said she can throw a pun 67 better than any stunt man i've

"i'm old enough that i lived through watergate, and i well remember john dean's testimony before the senate committees." john dean was president nixon's attorneywas involved in the watergate cover-upand was then a key witness for the áprosecution in the case as part of a plea-deal.he says the investigation into whether the president colluded with russian hacking of the democratic national committeehas put a watergate-like frame around the current administration. "trump is really trying to make nixon look like a choir boy."dean says the biggest similarity between trump and nixon is their authoritarian personalities - though for nixon, it was exressed more behind closed doors.though he doesn't know whether president trump had direct involvement with russian hacking or meddling, dean says we'll find out about any cover-up - if there is one - much more quickly than americans did in the seventies."i think if mr. trump could get rid of this, he would've gotten rid of it immediately. if nixon could have gotten rid of watergate, he would've gotten rid of it immediately." former intelligence

. >> reporter: john dean also weighed in saying trump ask and nixon share similarities. >> nixon behind closed doors was very authoritarian. trump is very authoritarian out in public with similar personalities. >> reporter: his water gate testimony was key. they're a long ways away from seeing president trump impeached. >> i don't think there will be impeachment as long as they can control the congress. i don't think they will do it. >> what is clear, he is presiding over the white house. representative lee calls this town hall in part to address those issues with the help of washington insiders and also taking action. >> two cities in my district and berkeley and alameda have passed for these investigations to take place, which they could lead to the possible impeachment of the president and for john dean who has seen it all in washington and even for him. this is something new. >> i have never seen a week like we have last week and the week before that. it's like a fire hose, it's unprecedented. >> there's a lot of passionate discussions tonight that will take some time to put all the

joining her on stage, john dean and malcolm mann, an expert in national security. telling the department crowd russia predicted president trump would take office. >> and they, what they knew, people who would come and abuse power, they would put in those guardrails as we are seeing the guardrails come into play. >> reporter: russia's role has yet to be determined. but congresswoman lee says the topic of presidential accountability was timeless. >> this discussion is timely especially here in my district because we're the heart and the soul. >> the battleground signs were up with the hashtag of resist. the guardians of 750 middle schools in berkeley would listen to every word. representative lee urging his recipients to stand up. >> and people who are engaged in my district. they want to see democracy prevail. >> reporter: john dean a former white house council, president richard nixon also weighed in saying nixon and trump share similarities. >> nixon behind closed doors was very authortive. trump is very authortive out it in public -- authorative out in public. we

john dean, it's great to have you with cnn.s great to have you on the program tonight. >> thank you. >> all of this is happening as the ninth circuit court of appeals grapples with the president's travel ban. sally yates was fired after she refused to defend that. tomorrow night on 360, tune in for my interview with sally yates. she and i had an extensive conversation this morning. her first and only television interview was fascinating. she talked about the firing of james comey, her own dismissal, the version of events from the white house. that's at 8:00 eastern right here tomorrow night on cnn. time to hand things over to chris cuomo hosting the cnn town hall with fancy pelosi. [ applause ] >>> good evening. we are here in washington, d.c. for a live special cnn town hall event with house minority leader democrat nancy pelosi of california.

amy: that was john dean. your response? interesting, to say the least, you're on very different sides back in the 1970's when your congressman and john dean works for nixoxon. you may share a lot of use right now. >> yes, i think we're getting vevery close to watergate. i think donald trump i is deep n the watergate territory. i think the firing of james comey with the apparent intention to squelch an investigation into his campaign activities and his activities resonates deeply with the issues and watergate. i want to make one point about what teens said. when richard nixon took office, it was only a matter of two or three months before he started into his illegal activities. the illegal bombing of cambodia started in march of his first year in office. crime and a crime against the constitution. unfortunately, nixon was not impeached for that. let's not get carried away with how nixon was really a good guy up to the very end. he wasn't. bad stuff started right away. illegal surveillance started right away. i think we have

john dean, thank you so much. >> thank you, brooke. >>> next, more on our breaking news.resident threatening james comey with possible take place of their conversations, as we were just discussing. plus, he just gave another interview. hear what he says about sean spicer's future. we asked people to write down the things they love to do most on these balloons. travel with my daughter. roller derby. ♪ now give up half of 'em. do i have to? this is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. but, if we start saving even just 1% more of our annual income... we could keep doing all the things we love. prudential. bring your challenges. the shlike a bald penguin. how do i look? [ laughing ] show me the billboard music awards. show me top artist. show me the top hot 100 artist. they give awards for being hot and 100 years old? we'll take 2! [ laughing ] xfinity x1 gives you exclusive access to the best of the billboard music awards just by using your voice. the billboard music awards. sunday, may 21st eight seven central only on abc. >>> are you moving so quickly th

john dean was the nixon counsel.ed guilty to the watergate coverup and cooperated and received a reduced sentence. also, richard painter who served as lawyer for george w. bush. great to have you on. mr. dean, those three sentences from this source from president trump to mr. comey, does that constitute obstruction of justice? >> well, as you've mentioned, i'm very familiar with obstruction of justice and learned about it the hard way. there are two lines of cases when dealing with the fbi. one line says that those are not pending judicial proceedings, therefore, the statute doesn't apply. other cases say you don't need a pending judicial proceeding. so the district of columbia law where this happened is kind of a mismash and not clearen oh the issues. given the fact that we don't know what the facts are and we have jurisdiction law that is mushy, i can't really say that there is an obstruction of justice. i can say politically, nixon, however was impeached in article 4, paragraph 4, for interference with the fbi. so

i think the only analogy i can think of is john dean and watergate. remember, when john dean testified about his conversations with the president, he didn't have the advantage of having the tapes, which might be the analogy to those memos. they came out later and they fully corroborated john dean's testimony. >> matt, what do you think the white house is thinking tonight with the news that he's going to testify? >> i think they are obviously getting ready for a very bad day. they're both going to have a bad day from what jim comey does. they could also have a bad day by how the president reacts. one of problems here is not the underlying investigation, but the president's response to it. every time there is a big dramatic public event the president does something either behind closed doors, by calling jim comey and asking him to quash the flynn investigation, or in public by tweeting this absurd claim maybe not so absurd there were tapes to back up his conversation with jim comey. they have this problem where not only the hearing causes problems, they

university of san francisco school of law dean john trasvina who worked on capitol hill says for almost anyone in government it would be illegal to reveal classified information to a country viewed as an adversary. sot: john trasvina, dean university of san francisco school of law //"classified information is handled very religiously by all sectors of the federal government."but that the commander in chief has authority to declassify government secrets.in a press conference the national security adviser denied the claim.sot: general h.r. mcmaster, national security adviser// "there's nothing that the president takes more seriously than the security of the american people. the story that came out tonight as reported is false."and republican senator of arizona john mccain says he's waiting on more details before jumping to conclusions.sen. john mccain/-r- arizona: "well if it's true, obviously it's disturbing but i think we've gotta find out more before i can comment." but if it turns out president trump did reveal sensitive information with russia - dean trasvina says that could mean com

all right, john dean. thank you for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> i want to bring in now karen finney, senior spokesperson for the clinton campaign. i guess the -- >> where to begin? >> the line from the white house, i guess, is well, look, you got what you wanted. you thought he did a terrible job, and he was unfair to hillary clinton, and now we fired him. how could you possibly complain? >> well, obviously as others have said, i mean the timing of this is what is problematic. a couple points i'd make. number one, on the timing, this actually shows you how far donald trump is willing to go to change the narrative and change the headlines. in addition to the points that have been made about whatever concerns there may have been in terms of how close the fbi may have been getting in their investigation on russia or levels of uncomfortableness with the way he was conducting the investigation, i mean i think it's interesting that it is the acting -- it is the deputy attorney general who initiates the

want to bring in john dean. john dean is the former white house counsel for president richard nixon. he is the author of "conservatives without conscien conscience." thank you for joining us. what did you think of the hearing today? there was more detail. there was furtherer evidence this white house is not inclined to deal with this issue. they are stalling and sto stonewalling, if you will. he could clear this up so quickly if he wanted to. that's why everyone thinks there's something there. the way she's responding to it and dealing with it. >> how can he clear it up quickly? >> he can say, anybody on my staff who has hinted at being involved, will testify in front of any forum, grand jury, talk to any fbi agent. all documents will be made available, if there are documents. explain what happened to flynn. why they didn't move faster. why it took a leak in "the washington post." respond. react to these things. lal are r >> by not doing that, you say it gives the impression of something to hide. >> it does. cov

i have a quote from john dean, from another time and place. guy: let's talk about these markets, figure out what is going on because we are starting to see a little bit of a sense of concerns in assets. tom: this is macron's chart, with the vix still under 10.92. and there is the euro-yen. is the riskrally, on trade still there? guy: i want to start with the two year, which we are starting to see move. we are at 133 this morning. are we starting to talk seriously about two hikes from the fed? u.s. futures on the s&p, starting to flip a little bit. the bloomberg pound index trading at highs. tom: i just heard matt miller and berlin talk about the lack of reaction. i did this chart for stephanie, just for stephanie. here is the inflation-adjusted dow, back to world war ii, back to 1947. the red circle on the left is the massacre of another time and place. you can see the real world, the wealth creation from massacre to massacre. i would call it the tuesday afternoon massacre. it gives you the sense of generational change, guy johnson, from water

john dean, thank you very much for joining us tonight. really appreciate it. "the 11th hour with brian williams" starts right now. >>> tonight why was james comey fired, and why now? and how long was this in the works? new reporting on what was going on in the west wing at this hour. >>> plus mike flynn subpoenaed by the senate intelligence committee after refusing to hand over documents related to russia. speaking of which, the two sergeis. the russians who visited the oval office today, photographed only by russian media. that was before nixon's secretary of state stopped by. and that's the optics we're dealing with on a wednesday night as "the 11th hour" begins. and good evening once again from our headquarters here in new york. this was day 111 for the trump administration. where does the time go? the day after the president fired the head of the fbi. and while fighting off comparisons to richard nixon after firing james comey, the president met in the oval office today with nixon's secretary of state henry kissinger. while also fighting off claims that co

. >> joining me now is john dean, former white house counsel to president richard nixon, who knew a thing about taping things in the white house. john, i can't tell if this is a distraction or a fib or a bluff, but your reaction to the pointed non-denial both from sean spicer and the president himself about taping people in the oval office? >> it is very hard to believe that he's actually got any kind of formal equipment to record in the oval office. the only thing that occurred to me was if he's capable and understands how to turn on his recording device on his smartphone, he might have had that on when they were having dinner. but i don't -- i just can't imagine any president commencing a taping operation in the oval office given what happened to nixon. i just -- it's so imprudent, and it was so costly, and it ultimately comes out. >> we should say that there's a history of donald trump dabbling in surveillance. two great pieces in buzzfeed, inside donald trump's surveillance operations and sources donald trump listened in on phone lines at mar-a-lago. although that said, i think the im

i want to bring in now john dean, john dean is the former white house counsel for president richard nixon and he's also the author of "conservatives without conscience." good evening to you, mr. dean. thank you so much for joining us. what did you think of the hearing today? >> well, you know, there was more detail we received. we knew about the meeting. we knew at the warning had come in earlier and this is just further evidence this white house is not inclined to really deal with this issue. what they keep doing is just stalling, stonewalling, if you will. the tweets are not responsive. that's why everyone thinks there's something there, is the way he's responding to it and dealing with it. >> how could he clear it up so quickly? >> well, he could say, listen, anybody on my staff who's even hinted at being involved in this will testify in front of any form, any grand jury, talk to any fbi agent, all documents will be made available, if there are any documents. explain what happened to flynn. why they didn't move faster. why it took a leak in the "washington post." i mean, respond to the

i'll be speaking to john dean about why trump seems to be forcing the

we appreciate it. >> thank you, brian. >>> we want to bring in john dean. counselor, i've been anxious to have some time with you on the air, mostly because of the number of times nixon's name has been thrown around in the last 24 hours. the presidential library had some fun with it yesterday and put out a tweet with the hash tag not nixonian to point out that among his other sins, he never fired the fbi director. but please, once and for all, as one of the living, breathing experts on the subject, what was nixonian about what we witnessed yesterday, what was not? >> well, i think what was nixonian was the blunt, clumsy hand-fisted style that was carried out. that was very nixonian. you know, brian, a lot of people think watergate was a continuous stream of sinisterial legal activities. that really wasn't the case. it was also mixed with blunder after blunder and botched activity after another. thaet wh that's what we're seeing here. this is the sort of thing that results in the end of a presidency the way nixon's ended, and a lot of that was just because o

. >> he was -- john dean said that he could see several similarities between nixon and the current president who joined her on stage pick >> nixon behind closed doors was very authoritarian, and trump is authoritarian out of public, and they are similar personalities. this could be troublesome but this is what some people wanted.>> dean went on to say that he did not think that president trump would be impeached song -- so long as republicans have the majority in congress. depending on what comes up and wind, what comes up in public on the russian involvement in the elections could change history. >>> accepting new transgender troops and the pentagon lifted the ban last year during the president obama presidency and the new rule includes education for all troops about transgender issues. that will take effect july 1 and thousands of transgender troops are on active duty right now but they serve under the unofficial, don't ask, don't tell policy, and that will be eliminated when the ban is lifted. >>> a possible electronics man -- ban on flights from europe to the u.s. and representatives cou

and their clever thought, john dean's clever thought was, have the cia do it because every once in aa is working on something and the fbi gets in the way and they have to alert the fbi. we're working on that, could you please let us do that? why wouldn't the trump administration, if they were trying to do this with james comey instead of closing the door and having the president do it one on one, why not go through that today, try to go through that nixon route through the cia to have the cia say to the fbi, please back off this? >> well, lawrence, i think the answer is very simple. the cia wouldn't do it. it didn't do it then, and it wouldn't do it now. it would be a flat no. >> and i want to get your overall reaction to the developments of this day, what it means for the fbi going forward, and what you expect to hear from james comey as this memo becomes the center of this story. >> well, knowing the fbi as i do, i'm quite certain that this series of developments only makes them all the more determined to get to the bottom of this. that's the culture there. that's the way they oper

former white house counsel john dean joined lee on stage. dean served prison time for his role in the watergate coverup. dean, like lee, has been a critic of conservative politicians. >>> abs 7 news was in san jose when the church. >> the major concern if another terror attack would happen is that there will be majorities of americans who might support what this administration is trying to do. we have to resist that. >> the first congregational church also spoke up against the interment of japanese americans during world war ii. >>> search crew ares in the water in pittsburgh looking for a missing boater who disappeared yesterday evening to save his son after he fell from the boat. the child was rescued but searchers had to suspend efforts looking for the father last night when it got too b.a.r.t. returned to norm today. the train went off the rails yesterday afternoon. nobody was hurt but rescuers are to walk stranded passengers to the platform at the daly city station. crews worked late into the night to remove from damaged cars and repair

john dean is joining us now. he worked at richard nixon's white house counsel, all of us remember. i want to get your per speckive, john. what does this story look like, these latest developments? >> it looks like it's bad for mr. -- president trump. looks like he's got some problems. >> if there are tapes, should they release them to corroborate the president's side of the story? >> well, they certainly can do that. i don't know if he's ready to disclose whether or not he has, in fact, a taping capability. i don't think he has a room wide one. he might have a smart phone on his desk that records. i do think he has a telephone system, though, that is very easily made to record telephone conversations. >> presumably, they could delete conversations very easily. richard nixon, and you can remind us, thought about destroying some of those tapes, didn't he? >> he did, indeed. he was counselled by his secretary of treasure, mr. kahnly akahn conley and mr. buchanan who's got a new book out. >> what about the memoranda that comey apparently wrote and we assume are in the files at the justi

the first thing i did when i joined cox in may of '73 was to gather all of the evidence on john dean so that we could still prosecute him, knowing that he was going to testify before the senate watergate committee. now, with oliver north, that problem got worse because he was prosecuted, and the supreme court, rightfully, held that anything he said could, you know, could be used against him, directly or indirectly, including the press reports. >> so, let me ask you a different angle of this. there is also a little bit debate over is this a criminal investigation or still a counterintelligence investigation? i've heard a little bit of both, depending often on what political party folks are landing on. rod rosenstein gave the impression to some yesterday, when they came out, that this was now a criminal investigation. republicans might be hesitant to say that. what do you think? >> it's definitely a criminal investigation. there's no question about it. you have a special counsel. he's been put in place of people in the criminal division, lawyers in the criminal division who would norma

i was surprised about was that the tapes show, there's a famous conversation that nixon has with john dean when he comes in and says there's a cancer on the presidency. we been committing perjury and raising hush money, we been promising clemency, your top aides probably have to go to jail and john dean is saying this because he thanks the president doesn't know, but the white house tapes show that from the second day after the burglary nixon was in on everything. he was constantly calling in saying is he reliable, will he commit perjury and not blab about it in five years. we've got to keep the attorney general john mitchell safe because we can afford to lose him. how are we doing on raising the money. the money has to be raised. let's hope they wash that money correctly. it goes on and on so by the time he comes in, nixon knows everything except one little nugget of information, the exact amount of hush money they needed to raise that particular week. that's the only news in that entire speech as far as i can determine. he was in the cover-up up to his neck and his loyalists have attempt

john dean, i have breaking news that i want you to respond to. we're just getting this from cnn's pamela brown. former fbi director james comey did not share his moemos with president trump with top justice department officials including jeff sessions or rod rosenstein. the memos were not shared despite concerns from comey that trump could be crossing the line and obstructing justice. it was not immediately clear if he shared the memo with any staffers at a lower level. rosenstein had not reviewed the memos as of last night. it's unclear how much that factored into his decision of appointing a special prosecutor. what do you make of this breaking news that we have now, john? >> it's certainly interesting. it sounds like mr. comey was being like he was in the past, where he did send memos to the files and he left them in the files until they were discovered by others or he was actually called on and needed the memo. so this is pretty much par for the course and i don't think he was being desif tif in anceptiv. it was just there to be found and it'

. >> john dean is the former white house counsel for president richard nixon.nks for joining us. >> thank you. >> trump had quite a day yesterday. there was that comment about andrew jackson, about how the civil war would not have happened, even though andrew jackson was born 16 years before the civil war started. he corrected himself later. he also talked about what an honor it would be to meet with kim jong-un. he floated the idea of a gas tax. talked about breaking up banks. had a friendly phone call with president duterte over the weekend. what do you make of all this? is this pressures of the white house that are causing donald trump to act erratically? or is it somethi else? >> well, it's hard to get inside his mind. we're beginning to get used to his patterns, and they are predictably unpredictable. what i find fascinating is his total ignorance on so many issues. i wonder about that call to putin, for example, if he went through the normal protocols of actually preparing for it, having people in from the state department, then carefully recording it. i

joining me now is john dean, former white house counsel to president nixon, a central figure in the watergateandal and now a cnn contributor. great to see you, john. thanks for coming in. >> good morning. >> so, if tapes were important last week over donald trump's conversations with james comey, how important is it now that congress get its hands on any tapes, if they exist, from the oval office following this russia meeting? >> well, we don't have any idea of what kind of taping might or might not being undertaken by mr. trump. we know that he has a history of doing this when he was in business. i know his telephones, it's a very simple switch. these are internet-based telephones, and they are digital now, and so, there's just a switch you hit and you can record phone calls. whether they're getting the room in total team or not and have wired that, i have no idea. so, it will be interesting to see what comes out on this. >> and a lot of folks will remember that following nixon it became a lot easier, a lot more clearer for congress and the public to gain access to any tapes coming from the

i'm joined by john dean. john, the obvious analog everyone is talking to is the famous saturday night massacre. archibald cox. that was when the president essentially tried to get rid of the man who was investigating and prosecuting -- possibly prosecuting him. what do you make of that comparison? >> well, he did get rid of that man, and he shut down the special prosecution office, which is why it was called a massacre. i don't think this comes quite to that level. it is somewhat in the same style. it has been as ham-fisted as nixon's removal of cox. the question is whether there will be the same kind of blowback. i'm interested in the response where people at the white house are not -- hadn't anticipated this. the same thing happened at the nixon white house. they were not ready for the blowback that occurred as a result of firing -- >> is that true? >> yes, it is. >> huh. >> they were quite surprised by it. while they knew there would be some repercussions, nowhere near what did happen had they anticipated.

university of san francisco school of law dean john trasvina who worked on capitol hill says for almost anyone in government it would be illegal to reveal classified information to a country viewed as an adversary. sot: john trasvina, dean university of san francisco school of law //"classified information is handled very religiously by all sectors of the federal government."but that the commander in chief has authority to declassify government secrets.in a press conference the national security adviser denied the claim.sot: general h.r. mcmaster, national security adviser// "there's nothing that the president takes more seriously than the security of the american people. the story that came out tonight as reported is false."and republican senator of arizona john mccain says he's waiting on more details before jumping to conclusions.sen. john mccain/-r- arizona: "well if it's true, obviously it's disturbing but i think we've gotta find out more before i can comment." but if it turns out president trump did reveal sensitive information with russia - dean trasvina says that could mean com