John Dean says Nixon ‘might have survived if there’d been a Fox News’

John Dean said he thinks former President Nixon might have survived “if there’d been a Fox News.”

“There’s social media, there’s the internet, the news cycles are faster. I think Watergate would have occurred at a much more accelerated speed than the 928 days it took to go from the arrest at the Watergate to the conviction of Haldeman and Ehrlichman and Mitchell, et al.,” Dean — who served as Nixon’s White House counsel — said during an interview with Politico’s “Off Message” podcast.

“There’s more likelihood he might have survived if there’d been a Fox News.”

Dean also said during the interview that it was “wishful thinking” for allies of President Trump to think the investigation into Russia’s election interference will be over soon.

He also addressed obstruction of justice.

“Everybody who got involved in the obstruction of justice at the Nixon White House didn’t have a clue what obstruction of justice was, including me. Later, after I read the statute and telling Haldeman and Ehrlichman, as well as Nixon in some tapes, it’s clear Nixon didn’t know anything about obstruction of justice,” he said.

“Unfortunately, motive and intent in the law are different. What they thought [was that] because what they were doing was purely political, and trying to minimize the impact of this blundered break-in at the Watergate, they had no criminal intent,” Dean said.

“Well, they intended to do the actions they did, which was stop the investigation. That’s what Trump did. His motive is irrelevant.”

Special counsel Robert Mueller is currently investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the investigation and referred the probe as a “witch hunt.” He has also denied collusion.

During an interview last month with The New York Times, Trump said he thinks Mueller “will be fair” to him in the investigation.

“There’s been no collusion. But I think he’s going to be fair,” Trump told the newspaper at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Fla.