‘Marching Right Up to the Edges of Extortion’: John Dean Rips Trump’s ’21st Century Coup’ in Stunning Call to Raffensperger
CNN contributor and former Richard Nixon White House counsel John Dean said President Donald Trump seemed like he was engaging in a “criminal conspiracy” during his newly-revealed phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R).
The Watergate whistleblower was on a panel Fredricka Whitfield hosted Sunday in order to discuss the hour-long phone call where Trump pressed Raffensperger to overturn his defeat in the state during the 2020 election. Whitfield found the audio “reminiscent” of the scandal that led to the end of Nixon’s presidency, and when she asked Dean for his take, he assessed that Raffensperger was being “extorted” by Trump in that call.
“The president is marching right up to the edges of extortion,” Dean said. He repeatedly drove this assessment as Whitfield asked Dean if he saw any other possible crimes in the call.
This also sounded like something that came out of the middle of a criminal conspiracy…This is part of a scheme and a plan that is trying to overturn a very legitimate election. I think there’s probably more of this. This is the first sort of raw evidence we’ve had surface. It’s very damning for the president, and it certainly should open the eyes of the American people. This is a coup. This is a soft coup, a 21st century coup. We don’t have troops at the door anymore. We have people insidiously working on the inside to damage and destroy the system. That’s what this is.
Presidential historian Tim Naftali picked up the conversation by decrying Trump’s actions as an “abuse of presidential power” that Republicans in Congress would enable by fighting against the certification of his 2020 defeat. John Harwood agreed that Trump’s words sounded “criminal” in nature before adding, “I would imagine that the president would also have a decent insanity defense if he chose to take it because he plainly was not in touch with reality on that call.”
Watch above, via CNN.
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