Counsel to then-President Richard Nixon
John Dean is a writer and lecturer, and special counsel for the Consumer Bankers Association, a lobbying group for major college lenders. He is the author of Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches and The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It.
Dean served as counsel to President Richard Nixon.
John Dean and the Abuse of Power Robert Scheer sits down with John Dean, former White House Counsel under Richard Nixon and now outspoken critic of the Republican Party. Dean, who famously said during the Watergate scandal that there is a "cancer on the presidency," offers his take on the misuse of power under the guise of national security both during Nixon’s presidency and today.
The Last of the Nixon Tapes President Richard Nixon was forced from office in part because of 3,700 hours of secretly recorded conversations in the White House and at Camp David, Maryland. Yesterday, the Nixon Library and Museum in Yorba Linda make the last 94 tapes available , ranging from April to July, 1973. On April 30, Nixon made a landmark speech about the Watergate scandal. His aides, HR Haldeman and John Ehrlichman had resigned. April 30 was also the day that John Dean was fired as White House Counsel. He later spent four months in prison for his role in covering up the Watergate scandal.
Obama, Congress and the Surveillance State Britain's Guardian newspaper and the Washington Post broke the stories last week about the National Security Agency collecting metadata on virtually every phone call made in this country and overseas and on Internet communications overseas. The leaker is 29-year old Edward Snowden , who worked for the CIA and as a contractor for the National Security Agency, and is now hiding out in Hong Kong. Privacy advocates are outraged over the revelations, and everybody's astonished at the volume of phone calls and personal data now in government hands. Many members of Congress say 'they didn't know', although President Obama insists that they did. Is there a violation of constitutional rights? Has he vastly expanded practices begun by President Bush — and which he denounced during his own campaign for the White House?
The Next Attorney General and Waterboarding Michael Mukasey is now considered certain to be confirmed as the next Attorney General of the United States after today's vote by the Judiciary Committee to send his name to the full Senate. The former judge has refused to say whether he thinks waterboarding is torture, but told New York Senator Chuck Schumer he would enforce a law against waterboarding if Congress passed one. That was good enough for Diane Feinstein of California, who joined fellow Democrat Schumer in providing the two deciding votes. Eight other Democrats voted no, insisting that waterboarding is torture and that Mukasey should declare it already illegal. Should a Medieval practice be classified as torture? Would that incriminate US officials all the way up to the White House? We talk to a Navy veteran who's been through it and taught it. Does it provide reliable information that could save innocent lives?
The Growing Scandal in Student Loans Education Secretary Margaret Spelling heads to Capitol Hill tomorrow to answer questions about student loans . With tuitions rising toward $50,000 a year at top institutions, student lending is an $85 billion industry. Investing in education is a lot like buying a car, with discounts and interest rates as important as faculty qualifications or student performance. Private lenders compete with the federal government, and friendly college administrators have taken gifts, trips and stock options. New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is just one investigator into reports of unethical and possibly illegal practices that include kickbacks to college loan officers who've recommended private lenders to parents and students. Yesterday, Theresa Shaw, Spelling's top student-loan overseer announced her resignation. How can students and parents tell if they're getting their money's worth? Is the Department of Education doing its job? Why is it so expensive to go to school?
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
Will the Senate write a healthcare bill in secret? While Democrats and Republicans argue White House relations with Russia, another question is being decided behind closed doors: who gets help buying health insurance and who doesn't? We hear how the pros and cons are being shrouded in secrecy.