Who Is John Dean?

RUSH: By the way, I think probably today they are grateful — don’t misunderstand me here — they are grateful for the helicopter crash yesterday that took attention away, ’cause John Dean bombed.

The Jerry Nadler mock impeachment hearing bombed. We have the audio sound bites of that coming up. I mean stop and think about it. Going back 45 years, John Dean, who’s got nothing to do with anything happening today except attempting to stay relevant by sucking up to the media every day in any which way he knows how. That is what saved John Dean.

In fact, you know what? I think a lot of people, I make the mistake — well, no, actually I don’t make this mistake. I acknowledge the fact that many in this audience may not have been alive back during Watergate, that’s 1972. And even if you were alive, you may have not been paying that much attention, although in Watergate a lot of people were. But how much of it do you really remember? How many really remember who John Dean is? How many really remember what John dean was?

Let me do a little pop quiz in there. There’s no wrong answer in there so don’t worry, I’m not trying to humiliate the already overworked and overpaid staff. In one sentence, and again, no wrong answer here. I’m running a little test. In one sentence, tell me who, to you, John Dean is. What is your memory of John Dean in Watergate?

Former Nixon loyalist turned rat is Mr. Snerdley’s impression of John Dean. I have found that most people have a variation of that, although they don’t use the word “rat.” They think John Dean is a hero because he finally came out — that’s why he’s there yesterday, because they think John Dean is seen as a hero. He finally had the guts, somebody in that Nixon administration had the guts to stand up and finally tell the truth. That’s not at all who John Dean was. And so a little history lesson coming up in just a second.

For the purposes of making sure the people in this audience are fully informed about who this guy is, we’ve got some great audio sound bites from the hearing yesterday. In fact, maybe the Democrats are — don’t misunderstand — but they may not be regretting that the helicopter story yesterday took their hearing — well, it made them start them late. As a result, not as many might have seen. We don’t know how many people actually saw the hearing, but it was not good.

RUSH: They’re still telling lies in the Drive-By Media about the Mexico tariff deal. They’re telling lies about everything. They cannot get current. They’re trying to correlate everything happening today to something that happened in the past that they think was a great victory for them. How ridiculous is it, the Mueller report is finished, it’s over, there’s nothing in it, there’s nothing in it for the Democrats to use to gain any kind of victory and they can’t let it go.

I mean, the pickings are so slim they’ve gotta go back and get a guy that’s 81 years old from the 1970s to try to make a case, and he wasn’t even part of this. He claimed he didn’t know how much CNN’s paying him as a commentator. I don’t know. I guess Dean makes so much money that the incremental pennies he gets from CNN are so insignificant that he doesn’t even bother to tabulate them. (imitating Dean) “I really don’t know what CNN is paying me.”

So let me tell you a little bit about John Dean. We’ll get into Plugs Biden and his eviscerating speech that the Drive-Bys breathlessly await. As I say, the helicopter story yesterday in Manhattan distracted the Drive-Bys from covering Jerry Nadler’s opening of the mock impeachment trial, the dry run, the rehearsal, starring John Dean. John Dean, of all the witnesses, John Dean was the star witness, somebody who wasn’t even a part of this!

Because it backfired, folks. Not only did John Dean not add any credibility to Nadler’s investigation, ’cause the Republicans eviscerated him. And, by the way, if you saw any of it yesterday, you now know why Mueller does not want to testify. Mueller’s not afraid of the Democrats, but he doesn’t want any part of Jim Jordan. Wait ’til you hear Jordan eviscerate John Dean. It’s coming up.

He doesn’t want any part of Doug Collins. He doesn’t want any part of any of the Republicans that would start asking him questions. He doesn’t want any questions about the dossier, about how they ignored the Hillary involvement with the Russians. That’s why Mueller doesn’t want to testify. John Dean illustrated why Mueller wants no part of congressional testimony.

Not only did John Dean not add any credibility, but the Republicans on the committee were able to remind everybody just what a partisan hack John Dean has been for more than 40 years. And the reason John Dean has become a partisan hack is because he learned very early on in the Watergate scandal that his true avenue of escape was to suck up to the Washington media that hated Richard Nixon.

If he could, in their eyes, become an ally in the war against Nixon, he would forever be embraced and given new life and credibility. And that’s been the case. Ever since John Dean was perceived to have turned rat on Nixon, the Drive-By Media in Washington and New York has loved him, as has the Washington establishment — and yesterday’s hearing exposed this. And it also illustrated what a partisan witch hunt Nadler’s mock impeachment rehearsal is. Now, as a public service, I want to add to what the Republicans said about Dean, which we have coming up in the audio sound bites.

For starters, John Dean was not the hero of Watergate, but many people think that he was because he was supposedly a Nixon loyalist who then saw what his boss was really doing, and saw what his boss was capable of and immediately — immediately — abandoned his boss. And that’s why John Dean’s a hero. Now, I gonna assume that most of you in this audience are fully aware of the abject hatred the media had for Richard Nixon, the abject hatred the Democrat Party had for Nixon.

So it didn’t take long for Dean to figure out which side of the bread he wanted buttered. (impression) “And he artfully separated himself from Nixon as a great American patriot, who was at one time a Nixon loyalist but then saw all the dirt, saw all of the scum, all of the outrage. And John Dean, American patriot, couldn’t take it anymore. And he finally had to let the truth fly! He had to unload in the Watergate hearings.” That’s how he’s seen: Great patriot, putting the country before his job, putting the country before his relationship with the president, putting his job before his loyalty to the executive branch.

And he’s parlayed that into a career that includes bashing Republicans on Twitter and on CNN as often as he is asked to do so. He was not, however, the hero of Watergate. John Dean, if you want to know the truth, is more accurately described as one of the two people behind the Watergate break-in! He worked with our old buddy G. Gordon Liddy! Dean was not one of these Nixon lawyers, White House counselors, that was shocked at what he had seen. He was one of the architects of it!

There’s a theory that John Dean was trying to protect his girlfriend, who was an alleged member of a DNC call-girl ring. That’s one of the reasons it was speculated — just a theory — that Dean was interested to get in there and get dirt from the DNC ’cause they had information that his girlfriend was alleged to be part of a DNC call-girl ring, which was one of the objectives of the Watergate burglars. They were doing anything they could to discredit that. They’d heard this rumor flying around. In any case, the FBI called John Dean “the master manipulator of the Watergate cover-up.”

He wasn’t some innocent bystander sitting in there doing his counselor job and all of a sudden becomes aware of what the burglars were doing and the plumbers and Liddy and his crowd, and was then outraged and shocked. He was “the master manipulator,” according to the FBI back then. And in the end, John Dean was accused of lying to authorities 19 times. He also obstructed justice. Keep that in mind. John Dean obstructed justice. He was sentenced to prison; didn’t want to go. He served a four-month prison term in a halfway house.

Well, I don’t know. A halfway house maybe is not prison, but he had to spend time away from home in a controlled facility. He made a big deal yesterday about not going to prison, but it’s a fine point. It’s semantics. So here’s a guy who obstructed justice, and the Democrats bring him in as an expert in obstruction of justice, and they think… They’re bringing him in as a hero! Not as somebody who has committed the crime, but as a hero who discovered it and was outraged by it. (impression) “But because of John Dean’s lifelong service, John Dean (better than most) can spot obstruction of justice before you and I have even gotten up in the morning.

“John Dean knows obstruction of justice — and, therefore, he’s a credible witness to describe how Trump has done it.” But wishing an investigation would end is not obstruction of justice. Is it? You’re the president of the United States. You know that what’s going on is a witch hunt because you know that you didn’t do it. You know he didn’t collude with Russia, and you know that you haven’t obstructed justice (because you’re president and you have constitutional powers that you’ve exercised like firing Comey), and you want this thing to end.

It’s a distraction, it’s paralyzing your administration, it’s a witch hunt. You know there’s no good that can come of this because there’s no “there” there being investigated. So you want it to end. As Professor Dershowitz has pointed out: Wanting an investigation of yourself to end is not obstructing justice, and it’s not unnatural. It’s perfectly normal, when you are falsely accused, to want it to go away. The Democrats are trying to say that Trump obstructed justice by thinking about finding ways to end this investigation, which really wasn’t even an investigation. It was a coup.

John Dean got away with pleading to a single felony count of obstruction in exchange for becoming a key witness for the prosecution, which ultimately resulted in Dean getting a reduced prison sentence of just about four months. Dean was also later disbarred as was Bill Clinton. But all in all, he got off with a slap on the wrist, especially now when he is calling for Trump to be drawn and quartered when Trump hasn’t committed any crimes and John Dean did!

And John Dean pleaded guilty to them for a reduced sentence. This whole experience has left John Dean, contrary — and this is a great study in human nature. John Dean is a bitter man. Why? John Dean ought to have been revitalized and happy and sitting on top of the world. He’s been embraced by the Washington power structure. He’s been embraced by the cool kids. He’s been embraced by the big clique. And the guy is bitter.

RUSH: John Dean’s an interesting figure in the sense that you’ve heard the old saying that the grass is not always greener. Here’s John Dean. He comes out of Nixon administration; he’s caught up in it. He realizes how much Nixon’s hated. He makes a quick calculation that he’s gotta get out of that. So he… Call it becoming a rat, whatever. He decides to throw in with Nixon’s enemies, which is the entirety of the media — and they willingly, rapidly accept his entry application into the Washington establishment, because he becomes a useful player.

They can use John Dean and his supposed credibility to destroy Nixon even further. John Dean, nevertheless, seems to have been left a bitter man. In the 40 years since, John Dean made a living by claiming every alleged Republican scandal has been “worse than Watergate.” That’s been his job. His job with the Drive-By Media has been to say that every Republican president and scandal therein is at least the equal to Watergate, if not worse — and he’s doing it here with Donald Trump. He said Reagan’s Iran-Contra scandal was worse than Watergate.

He even wrote a book that claimed the Iraq war was far worse than Watergate, that Bush and Cheney were far worse than Nixon ever was. This has been his job. Since Trump has been in office, John Dean has posted 970 tweets attacking Donald Trump, in addition to all of his attacks on Trump as a CNN commentator. And yet he’s bitter. Why isn’t he happy? The Drive-Bys have accepted him! They’ve made him a hero. They’ve reversed his loser image. They’ve turned him into one of the great American patriots, and he’s bitter.

RUSH: Now to the audio sound bites. Jim Jordan of Ohio just eviscerated John Dean yesterday. Now, again, I just want to set this up. John Dean’s brought in by Jerry Nadler ’cause they don’t have anybody. They’ve gotta go get somebody from 40 years ago who pled guilty to obstructing justice during Watergate. John Dean, in fact, prepared the enemies list! He was one of the two guys that prepared it! He and Chuck Colson prepared the Nixon enemies list.

He’s now out there talking about how he’s proud to be an enemy of Trump. I don’t think Trump cares one way or the other about John Dean, except when John Dean goes front and center. But this is a mock impeachment hearing. John Dean is trying to be the star witness to see if there’s anything there, and when it came time for the Republicans to take their turn, this is how it went with Jim Jordan…

JORDAN: “At a memorial event for David Hamburg, Speaker Pelosi and I had a chance to discuss impeachment.” Mr. Dean, who wrote that?

JORDAN: One month ago, May 11th, 2019: “Haven’t we been too long in not giving Trump a meaningful monker? Should it be Deranged Don, Deadbeat Don, Demagogue Don? Thoughts, please? Comments?” Mr. Dean, who wrote that?

JORDAN: It was yours. Nineteen days ago, there was this: “We are witnessing Trump’s massive cover-up of his criminal behavior as POTUS. He’s incapable of accomplishing anything.” Mr. Dean, do you know who wrote that?

RUSH: He’s “incapable of accomplishing anything.” So, Jim Jordan was simply reminding everybody of the abject hatred — not just bias, the abject hatred — for Donald Trump harbored by John Dean. Making the point that anything this guy says cannot be accepted as credible because he’s got this built in hatred bias. Now, Trump hasn’t accomplished anything, eh?

JORDAN: “As president of the United States, he, Donald Trump, is incapable of accomplishing anything.” When you made that statement, Mr. Dean, what did you have in mind? Thinking about the 3.2% economic growth rate we had the last quarter? Thinking about the fact we got the lowest unemployment in 50 years? How about the fact the hostages are back from North Korea? Maybe you were thinking about this. When you said the president of the United States was incapable of doing anything, were you thinking about the fact that the embassy is now in Jerusalem?

DEAN: I think that under the parliamentary rules of the House, I’m refraining from addressing a full answer to your question.

JORDAN: You weren’t refrained in your tweets, in your comments to the things —

JORDAN: They are subject to state of mind and the perspective you bring to this hearing.

RUSH: John Dean simply will not repeat or even acknowledge what he has said. He’s being eviscerated here.

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“If she’d been a call girl, surely something about that would have come out during Watergate.”

Who do you think would have been eager to reveal that? Her clients? The DNC office arranging the “dates”? The same Washington press corp had covered up JFK and LBJ’s philandering?

Call girls aren’t exactly rare in Washington DC. And unless Mo Biner was arrested during the break-in it wouldn’t have interested the investigators.

“And really, if she was a high-end prostitute and Watergate was all about her, what was she doing sitting there through all the hearings? “

She was John Dean’s wife. He married her four months after the break-in.

“Dean would have been clever enough, or scared enough, not to run the risk of people finding out the real story.”

How exactly would Mo Dean attending the hearings be a risk? She wasn’t testifying, John was.

“And if the Deans have been living a lie all these years, wouldn’t it have put a strain on their marriage? “

Why? Even Mafia families have long marriages. Dean was convicted of a felony. I don’t think lying upsets him. And Mo knew he was shady when she married him.

” Was he really going to stick around with an ex-prostitute?”

He would have been well aware of her past when he married her.

“If Liddy didn’t know what Watergate was really about before hearing about the book - if he’d been utterly clueless for twenty years - what does that say for his knowledge and his judgment? “

It means that Liddy believed Dean when Dean told him that Nixon had ordered the burglary.

“So far as I know, Liddy never said that Maureen Dean had been a prostitute. “

Liddy wouldn’t have known anything about Mo Biner at the time of the burglary. Do you think that Dean would have told the burglars information that there was no need for them to know?

“But this “Silent Coup” story has far too much speculation and too many assumptions for it to be taken for the truth.”

It seems to me that you have a limited knowledge of what’s in the book.

How exactly would Mo Dean attending the hearings be a risk?

Somebody would recognize her and spread the story. Also, if Watergate really was all about her, Dean would be made more nervous, rather than reassured, by having her there.

He would have been well aware of her past when he married her.

Actually, that "call girl" thing isn't what the original theory was. It's how the Internet has embellished it.

It means that Liddy believed Dean when Dean told him that Nixon had ordered the burglary.

That's questionable. Any president wants plausible deniablity.

But if Liddy he had to read a book to find out that Nixon didn't order the surveillance he's probably not an expert on what was going on.

It seems to me that you have a limited knowledge of what’s in the book.

It's long on speculation and short on actual evidence. But people don't see that when they really want to accept a theory.

“Somebody would recognize her and spread the story.”

The only people who would recognize Mo Dean as a call girl were people who would implicate themselves if they had talked about it.

“Actually, that “call girl” thing isn’t what the original theory was. It’s how the Internet has embellished it.”

Actually it is. Apparently you didn’t read Silent Coup.

“That’s questionable. Any president wants plausible deniablity.”

Liddy himself says that’s what he believed. You don’t seem very familiar with this stuff.

“But if Liddy he had to read a book to find out that Nixon didn’t order the surveillance he’s probably not an expert on what was going on.”

Liddy would only be an expert on the parts of Watergate that he himself participated in. Which didn’t include the planning. But he did know what Dean had told him. And he could compare what he knew with what Colodny and Gettlin uncovered in their research.

“It’s long on speculation and short on actual evidence. But people don’t see that when they really want to accept a theory.”

Speaking of long on speculation and short on actual evidence, I don’t think that you’ve ever read Silent Coup. You appear to be regurgitating opinions second hand. The book is loaded with evidence which you’d know if you had read it.

The only people who would recognize Mo Dean as a call girl were people who would implicate themselves if they had talked about it.

I see that however old you are you haven't yet come across the phrase "anonymous sources." If reporters come up with enough of them, they run the story. Moreover, given that the statute of limitations has expired and given what the culture has become, it wouldn't have been hard for somebody to have come forward and confirm the story if it were true.

The rumor that Maureen Dean had been a prostitute wasn't so far as I'm aware part of the original story. Maybe Colodny and Gettlin were hinting at it and wanted the public to conclude that, but if I remember correctly they were careful about not coming out and saying that. So you had John Dean for some reason ordering a break-in to get documents about a prostitution ring either because he wanted to use the documents for blackmail or because his wife's name had somehow become included in the documents. It took anonymous internet posters to make the Maureen Dean prostitute theme a meme.

It's a fact that Maureen Dean knew Heidi Rikan and John Dean must have been aware of her existence, but there's no real evidence for the rest of the story -- that there was a prostitution ring connected with the DNC, that Rikan ran a prostitution operation, that it was connected to the DNC, that Ida Wells was the contact between the DNC and the prostitutes, that she kept photos in her desk, that Maureen Dean's picture or phone number was there, that she worked as a prostitute, that John Dean arranged the Watergate break in to get those pictures or documents -- all that is unproven speculation.

Some of it may be true, but the connections come from Phillip M. Bailley, a lawyer with ethical and mental problems who also claimed Diane Sawyer was part of the same prostitution ring.

According to an article in Time, Bailley graduated from Catholic University Law School in 1969 after being voted “most likely to be disbarred” by his classmates. Bailley spent his first few years out of school cultivating a practice based largely on “defending the indigent,” Time says. By 1972, the year the article came out, Bailley had been charged with “inducing into prostitution secretaries and office workers on Capitol Hill.” He pleaded guilty, was sent to St. Elizabeths Hospital for mental-health observation, and was disbarred, Murray says.

The man knew about prostitution, I guess, but he doesn't sound like somebody I'd trust to tell the truth. The way that Colodny and Gettlin jumped to the conclusion that Alexander Haig was "Deep Throat" is another indication that they haven't written the best or truest book about Watergate.

Gordon Liddy wants to believe that John Dean was responsible for Watergate and that it had something to do with his wife. In Liddy's mind that may let him off the hook for all the other stuff he was willing to do to get Richard Nixon reelected. Others support the theory because they think it somehow clears Nixon and the rest of the staff of wrong-doing. Still other people like to (or need to) call people whores. Those who don't have such compulsions will be justifiably skeptical of Silent Coup's wacky theory. I can't definitively say that it isn't true or couldn't be true, but people shouldn't be acting like it's proven - or even likely to be true.

“The book was published over a quarter century ago. I looked through it when it came out and later. It grows less and less convincing over the years. “

And yet after 25 years it’s content remains a mystery to you.

You couldn’t possibly know if the book is “less convincing” because you obviously have never read it.

It’s been obvious from your comments that you don’t know what’s in it.

“You believe what you feel you have to believe. I’ll stick with the facts.”

Best irony of the day. Thanks for the laugh.

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