Former Nixon counsel says Trump’s media supporters will have ‘egg all over their face’ when probe ends

John Dean, former President Nixon’s White House counsel, predicted on Sunday that media supporters of former President Trump will have a “egg all over their face” when the Department of Justice’s investigation into matters involving classified documents comes to an eventual end.

During an appearance on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” host Brian Stelter asked Dean for his thoughts on the conservative media’s response to the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in which many right-leaning voices have lobbed attacks on law enforcement and claimed the probe is politically motivated.

Some TV cable news hosts, such as Fox News’s Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity, have gone so far to say “they have declared war on us and now it’s game on” and that the search was a “clear and gross abuse of power.”

When asked to respond to an array of news clips over the past week, Dean said: “Well, I think that they don’t seem to want to appreciate that the FBI and other federal law enforcement, as well as state and local, they enforce search warrants every day, against every kind of person.

“And there’s a reason Trump provoked this. He’s the one who didn’t cooperate. He’s the one who forced [Attorney General] Merrick Garland’s hand. We don’t know what it is he has or had.” 

“Garland isn’t a risk taker, he isn’t a guy whose bold and goes where no one else has ever gone. He’s somebody who does it by the book, so I think these people are going to have egg all over their face when this is over,” Dean added. “While they may not ever admit it, there certainly should.”

Dean is known for his role in initially helping cover up the Watergate scandal but later cooperating with federal prosecutors, and he testified against Nixon during congressional hearings investigating the scandal.

The FBI and Justice Department have faced a series of attacks since a search warrant was executed on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Aug. 8. In rare public remarks, Garland said last week the department would seek to unseal the warrant and reveal documents that were taken, some of which were determined to be classified.

Republicans have rallied around Trump since the raid, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) going as far as introducing articles of impeachment against Garland.

Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray in recent days have pushed back on criticism of their departments and defended the work of federal law enforcement agents.

“Let me address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” Garland said. “The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants.”