The Trump world is likely in more panic on Monday as Michael Cohen’s lawyer is reportedly in close communication with former White House counsel John Dean, who helped topple Richard Nixon during the Watergate saga.
According to The Washington Post, citing the Associated Press, Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis has “been talking to Dean over the last few months ‘to hear his wisdom, the lessons that he learned and his reflections on what he saw Michael Cohen going through.'”
In other words, Cohen’s team is talking to a man who knows a thing or two about cooperating with investigators to bring down a corrupt president.
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Davis’ revelation Monday is seen as the latest sign Cohen could be seeking a deal to cooperate against Trump in the Russia probe. It comes as federal prosecutors appear close to charging Cohen with financial crimes.
Davis says he and Dean see parallels between Dean’s experience with Watergate and Cohen’s pivot from being loyal to Trump to looking out for himself.
The Watergate parallels are piling up
Not only does Michael Cohen look to be pulling a John Dean, but so does current White House counsel Don McGahn, who has Trump shaking in his boots over 30 hours of interviews he granted to special counsel Robert Mueller.
As PoliticusUSA’s Jason Easley noted over the weekend, the White House is panicking because they don’t have a clue what McGahn may have spilled during his extensive time with Mueller.
What we do know is that McGahn, like Cohen, is likely working overtime to protect himself before Trump has a chance to throw him under the bus, too. Key to the McGahn angle is the fact that Trump tried to pressure him to fire Mueller last summer, but McGahn threatened to resign over it.
Regardless of whether Trump’s effort to push Mueller out failed, his intent was again clear: He wanted to remove the man running the Russia investigation in order to protect himself – aka obstruction of justice. This is information McGahn likely confirmed with Mueller.
Ultimately, people who Trump thought were allies are now trying to save themselves, even if that means throwing the White House overboard. And as this slow-motion Saturday night massacre continues, this president’s fate is shaping up a lot like Nixon’s.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
