Watergate's John Dean: J6 committee's work will go down in history
On Friday's edition of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean predicted that the House January 6 Select Committee's work would live on in the history books, long after the conclusion of their investigation.
This comes amid reports that the committee is set to vote on a criminal referral of former President Donald Trump to the Justice Department on two charges: obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
"John, when it comes to charges being considered ... if the DOJ were to pursue those, how high is the bar in the court of law?" asked Cooper.
"Of course, it has to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in federal court in a criminal proceeding like this, and that is the highest standard of proof," said Dean. "Unlike this committee, which is relying on hearsay on occasions, they have to get to the source of everything. They do have the tools at the Department of Justice to do that — something the committee doesn't. Naturally, they do rely on hearsay because they trust the source they're getting it from."
"What is going to happen at Justice is much different than what happened at the committee, but this committee is taking such an historic look at the presidency at such an important time, that I think their work is really going to be remembered long, long after Monday," Dean added.
A criminal referral from the committee would not require the Justice Department to file charges, and would merely be a recommendation. However, this comes as special counsel Jack Smith is pursuing multiple criminal probes of the former president, including one that covers the plot by him and his associates to throw out the results of the 2020 election.
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