John Dean mocked for saying Nixon ‘would have survived’ Watergate under SCOTUS' immunity ruling shielding Trump

WASHINGTON, DC: Former White House counsel for the Nixon administration John Dean stated that he thinks former president Richard Nixon "would have survived" the Watergate scandal had the Supreme Court's immunity ruling, issued on Monday, July 1, been in place at the time.

This ruling essentially protects former presidents from criminal prosecution for actions taken while in office, The Hill reported.

When asked what would have happened to Nixon in the wake of Watergate, Dean cited the opinion of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who dissented from the other conservative justices on a portion of the majority ruling about the use of a former president's official acts as evidence in criminal prosecutions.

John Dean says Richard Nixon ‘would have survived’ Watergate under SC's immunity ruling 

John Dean said, "Well, there’s actually two rulings in this decision. There’s a 6-3 for presumptive immunity, but there’s also a 5-4 on you can’t even have the evidence of official conduct come to play."

He added, "This is very…this to me, appears to certainly influence the existing law on presidential conduct [and] what’s available…evidentiary speaking. Amy Coney Barrett said she didn’t think that it should be so restricted as the decision of the court itself was, so I think that Nixon would have survived. I think he would have walked under this ruling."

Following ideological lines, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Monday that presidents are "at least presumptively immune" from prosecution for any other official activities and have complete immunity for conduct that is within the purview of their office.

In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts decided that official actions taken by a former president cannot be used as evidence against them in a criminal prosecution.

Barrett expressed her disagreement with this part of the verdict in a concurring opinion, writing. She said, "I disagree with that holding; on this score, I agree with the dissent… The Constitution does not require blinding juries to the circumstances surrounding conduct for which Presidents can be held liable."

Notably, a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, which was housed in the Watergate complex, led to the scandal surrounding Nixon in 1972, which was known as Watergate. The culprits behind the break-in were officials tasked with reelecting Nixon; several of them subsequently resigned and were found guilty of crimes connected to the cover-up.

John Dean slammed for his statement on SCOTUS' immunity ruling 

Internet users slammed John Dean as he stated that he thinks former president Richard Nixon "would have survived" the Watergate scandal had the Supreme Court's immunity ruling been in place at the time.

One social media user posted on X, "He obviously doesn't know history. Nixon was encouraged to resign, which he did," while one added, "Democrats are just butt hurt that the SC is hindering their lawfare election interference efforts."

One person stated, "Nixon resigned on his own terms," whereas one mentioned, "John Dean is a scandal grifter."

One individual asked, "Breaking and entering is a normal presidential duty?" while one added, "Yes because you used a cia asset to get rid of him."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.