Nixon WH Lawyer John Dean Says There Is a Public Interest in Releasing Mar-a-Lago Affidavit, But Not How Trump Wants It

Former White House counsel and Watergate witness John Dean said on CNN Saturday that there is a genuine public interest in seeing some part of the affidavit upon which the Mar-a-Lago search warrant was based, which release Donald Trump and his supporters have been demanding and a magistrate judge is considering.

CNN’s Phil Mattingly interviewed Dean, asking him about the demands from Trump world for the public release of the affidavit that resulted in a search warrant and the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago.

After playing a clip of Mick Mulvaney speaking with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on the subject, Mattingly asked, “Does the public need to see what’s in that affidavit, or should the Justice Department’s desire to protect its investigation come first?”

“Well, I think it’s a unique situation, and I think the judge senses that, the outrage that has been apparent since the word of the search,” said Dean. “So I think the judge is trying to find some ground that he can give the people some understanding of what’s going on.”

But it’s not going to be classified information, Dean stressed. “They’re not going to get any of this highly classified information, nor are they going to get really exactly what the investigation is doing or any of the Witnesses who are on the line in this investigation,” said Dean.

Critics have suggested that Trump’s main interest in seeing the affidavit is to find the “rat” that he has been hunting in his circles, and that’s why he is calling for the affidavit to be unredacted.

Dean is arguing that none of that is going to happen, and that the judge, who gave the DOJ a week to submit proposed redactions, will not “reveal” the classified info that is being sought, the details of the investigation, or the names of any witnesses.

“What I think they can reveal is the back-and-forth between the Justice Department and the National Archives as well in trying to retrieve the documents from Trump and the explanations, maybe allusions to the explanations Trump has given, if any, as to why he had those,” said Dean.

“I think that we’re going to see a redacted document, but it’s going to give us some insights, not that Trump won’t abuse those and play the grievance role because anything is blacked out,” he added. And after another question from Mattingly, said, “the redactions is going to be for a very justifiable reason, a reason that has been persuasive to the judge.”

He also added it would be a “messy looking” document and wishes there was a “better way to do redactions.”

“They do them in black. I’ve often thought, maybe do them in white,” he said.

So that’s a thought, too.

Watch the clip above via CNN.