Former White House counsel John Dean said Wednesday that former FBI Director James Comey's planned disclosures to Congress on President Donald Trump's pressure to close the Michael Flynn Russia investigation "looks like obstruction to me."
"The most striking thing is that Comey's norm of late has not been to use prepared statements," Dean, who was implicated in the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration, told Erin Burnett on CNN. "He's obviously carefully prepared this statement.
"It reflects that it is just the tip of the iceberg of this investigation – that he has worked with his colleagues and kept them briefed throughout the drill, because he probably was alarmed and did see problems and knew indeed he might be a witness."
Comey's opening remarks were posted online Wednesday by the Senate Intelligence Committee, before which he will testify in open session on Thursday.
He said in the seven-page statement that President Trump asked him to end the investigation of the former national security adviser in a February White House meeting and to pledge his loyalty over a private dinner the previous month.
"I felt compelled to document my first conversation with the President-Elect in a memo," Comey said, referring to a Jan. 6 meeting in New York.
"To ensure accuracy, I began to type it on a laptop in an FBI vehicle outside Trump Tower the moment I walked out of the meeting.
"Creating written records immediately after one-on-one conversations with Mr. Trump was my practice from that point forward," Comey added. "This had not been my practice in the past."
Dean told Burnett that Comey's thoroughness in his remarks reflected "a man who acts like he knew he might be a witness."
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