Thread by @almostjingo

1- What decisions are the Democrats not sharing with us in calling John Dean? On the surface having him testify seems desperate, as if it’s the only person they could get for headlines but scratch below the surface and it’s much darker, it started in September 2018.

2- Last August/September, Lawfare’s Benjamin Wittes and a handful of other powerful ant-trumpers filed a petition for the #WatergateRoadmap which was previously under seal.
documentcloud.org/documents/4883…
int.nyt.com/data/documenth…

3- They were desperate to get the roadmap in Mueller’s hands and argued that whatever was sealed in the secret proceedings would help set precedent (a powerful magic wand in law)

4- In October their dreams came true, they were thrilled and quickly began bragging about how this roadmap could help Mueller AND Congress
lawfareblog.com/watergate-road…

5- Some pretty powerful people started speaking directly to Mueller by way of Lawfare blog based on the roadmap including former FBI’s Jim Baker.
lawfareblog.com/what-watergate…

6- All the infamous Steele Dossier pushers then started to chime in, good old Chait of course baked up Baker. They were basically writing the case for Obstruction for Mueller (compare the text) 😂
nymag.com/intelligencer/…

7- “Obstruction is still right there” he cried, look even Baker agrees just look at the #WatergateRoadmap

8- By the beginning of this year Wittes literally started speaking directly to @RepJerryNadler telling him what to look at in the now released documents.
lawfareblog.com/what-old-water…

9- To them, the key is accessing grand jury material, which in watergate was done by Congress, by way of the judges handling Special prosecutions. Their are glaring differences between the two cases that even Wittes points out BUT they claim “precedent”

10- Lets back up a bit though because here’s where it gets really dirty. In February @RepJerryNadler announced the hiring of Barry Berke and Norman Eisen (on taxpayer dime) WHY no one argues conflict of interest in mind boggling.
nadler.house.gov/news/email/sho…

11- Berke and Eisen are both contributors to Wittes Lawfare propaganda err blog. Eisen is the co-founder of CREW.

12- The besties are both fellows at Brookings with Wittes and Eisen is behind the infamous “emoluments lawsuit” these two are now being PAID by YOUR tax dollars.

13- For those living under a rock Wittes is a well known friend of Comey’s and Eisen was Obama’s “ethics watchdog” 😂
washingtonian.com/2017/12/10/dcs…

14- Berke and Eisen have been calling for Obstruction since October 2017 (via Lawfare of course) would be interesting to compare their arguments to those made in Mueller Report 💡The duo also regularly contributed to WAPO.

15- So, why John Dean today? Look for Nadler to start openly arguing Watergate roadmap they just needed to get Watergate on the record.

Full #WatergateRoadmap Release here:
archives.gov/research/inves…

16- The hiccup? Many argued (pre Trump) that the tactics used in Watergate were in fact Justice denied, perhaps that’s why the infamous roadmap remained sealed. Time will tell. -Fin
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…