Former President Richard Nixon aide John Dean on Tuesday called the memo written by now-ousted FBI Director James Comey about a private conversation with President Trump a "smoking gun."



Dean, whose testimony during the Watergate investigation played a vital role in Nixon's impeachment proceedings, told CNN that the memo is “a direct parallel to what was in the ‘smoking gun tape' where the president asked the CIA to intervene and halt the FBI investigation.”



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“That didn’t work during Watergate ... where good motives would somehow erase criminal intent. Juries didn’t buy those kinds of arguments,” he said in the interview, as first reported by Raw Story.

Dean's comments follow a report by The New York Times that claimed that Trump asked Comey to end the federal investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Trump also reportedly asked the FBI director to consider imprisoning journalists who publish leaked classified information.

Dean also maintained that good intentions do not erase criminal intent and added such a justification would not have been effective during Watergate.