John Dean is no stranger to political scandal and cover-up. In the early 1970s, Dean served as White Counsel under President Richard Nixon. As the scandal surrounding the break-in of the Watergate office building began to unfold, Dean participated in the cover-up, which later landed him in jail for four months on obstruction of justice charges. Fearful of being made the fall guy when the scandal began to unravel, Dean cooperated with federal investigators and was eventually fired by President Nixon.

John Dean says he sees some similarities between the current Enron scandal and past political scandals, including Watergate. “Vice President Dick Cheney’s posturing about his energy task force has a familiar ring to someone who served in the Nixon White House,” writes Dean. “It is the sound of someone who has something to hide.”

Dean writes that the General Accounting Office has a right to the records related to Cheney’s meetings of his energy task force, and Cheney must know that. What Cheney is doing is merely a delay tactic, the same tactic used by the Nixon White House when it knew it needed to hide something.

This hour, John Dean connects the dots between political scandals from Watergate to Iran Contra to the current Enron scandal.

Guests:

John Dean, former White House counsel for President Nixon

author of “The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court”