John Dean compares Mueller investigation to Watergate

John Dean is comparing the the Russia investigation and Watergate in a new interview, saying special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe is only getting started. 

“We’re very early in the big picture of things. The investigation is really just getting underway,”  Dean, who served as President Nixon’s White House counsel, told The Intercept, referring to Mueller’s probe into Russia’s election meddling and possible collusion between President Trump’s campaign and Moscow. 

Dean went on to discuss the length of the Watergate probe, which resulted in Nixon’s resignation. 

{mosads}”That’s 928 days from start to finish, and there are obviously events that precede and follow both,” he said. 

Dean also touched on the role social media has played in the Russia probe, saying that while it has accelerated the news cycle, the probe itself will still take time to complete. 

“What social media has done is sort of accelerated the news cycle, but still it just takes X amount of time to undertake an investigation and X amount of time for the public to absorb events,” he said. “It’s still going to take time for this to unfold,” 

Dean said a key part of the investigation will be finding out whether Trump “might have obstructed justice to prevent the investigation by overreacting.”

Dean said there is not a “scintilla of evidence” that Nixon ordered the Watergate break-in or knew it was going to happen.

“But he certainly did involve himself from the outset in the cover-up,” he added. “He was knee-deep in that.”

Dean’s comments come as Mueller continues to probe the alleged ties to Russia, interviewing more people in the president’s inner circle. 

Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty last month to lying to the FBI about his foreign contacts as part of a plea deal with Mueller.