Nixon White House attorney John Dean says Devin Nunes should be jailed for ‘betraying national security’

A key figure from the Watergate scandal which brought down administration of President Richard Nixon believes that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) should serve time in jail for his "scam" of a memo.

John Dean was an associate deputy Attorney General and White House counsel before pleading guilty to obstruction of justice. Dean ended up serving four months in federal detention and was disbarred as an attorney.

"Nunes co-conspirator on the Hill is his staffer Kashyap Patel," Dean charged.

Patel is the lead Nunes staffer behind the memo. Patel was issued a rare "order of ineptitude" from a federal judge in 2016.

"They both belong in jail for betraying national security with their scam," he continued.

Dean's conclusion that prison is necessary for the Nunes memo is notable because of Dean's role crafting a similar memo.

On Friday, former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks explained the parallels to MSNBC's Chris Hayes.

“First of all, Richard Nixon asked John Dean to write a whitewash memo, saying he had fully investigated the accusations and that no one in the White House or on the Committee to Re-Elect the President was involved," Wine-Banks explained.

“That’s what’s this memo was. It is a whitewash,” Wine-Banks said.