John Dean, former White House counsel to Richard Nixon, said Thursday on “CNN News Central” if former President Donald Trump is not convicted in the January 6 case, then “we don’t have the democracy we believe we have.”
Anchor Erin Burnett asked, “John, as you sit here on this day appeared we watch a former president of the United States heading to Washington to be arraigned, charged formally in a federal courthouse for undermining the U.S. Constitution, how do you even put this in context?”
Dean said, “It does not fit in the context because it is bigger and more significant than any litigation, any criminal proceeding we’ve ever had in this country. Democracy itself is really at issue at this trial.”
He added, “If Trump could get away with what he’s done, what he’s charged with here, and which I think most people and observers know he undertook these activities, then we don’t have the democracy we believe we have and we’re in a lot of trouble, a heap of trouble. So, the criminal justice system is being tested. The Constitution is being tested. All the players will be tested, because this is a really big deal, Erin.”
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