Watergate star expect criminal charges after final testimony on January 6: 'Trump is in trouble.'

Watch Watergate star expect criminal charges after final testimony on January 6: 'Trump is in trouble.'

John Dean, a former White House adviser, and Watergate witness participated in the January 6 hearings.

Dean said the evidence released on Tuesday could call for charges against Trump and his circle.

He stated that since many rioters saw themselves doing what Trump was asking, he might be held responsible.

John Dean said former President Donald Trump and others would likely face legal repercussions from the evidence presented at the committee's hearing on Tuesday, Jan.

Dean described them as "a truly classic totalitarian, following the leader."

"Trump knows how to push his base button, and he can get them to respond based on the command," Dean said.

Dean, 83, was a White House adviser to President Richard Nixon. He was also a witness before Congress as part of its investigation into the Watergate scandal. 

One witness, Stephen Ayres, told the commission he believed he was following Trump's wishes to attack the Capitol and said he left after Trump asked them to do so in a tweet.

Commenting on this, Dean said, "I think a criminal case is going to come out of it. I don't see how the attorneys general at the Department of Justice can't take a lot of that evidence and use it."

The January 6 commission sought to directly link Trump to the Capitol riots, calling it the culmination of the former president's attempt to reverse his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

On Tuesday, the panel focused on the links between people in Trump's circle and extremist groups at the forefront of the January 6 violence.

The committee can criminally refer Trump to the Department of Justice, which will decide whether to launch an unprecedented investigation of a former president.

Dean's comments followed a New York Times report that said testimony from previous hearings had caught the Justice Department's attention and prompted it to consider acting more seriously against Trump.

It could independently launch a criminal investigation of Trump based on the evidence presented in the hearings, a path that Dean said was most likely. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the riots, he said he honestly believed the allegations of election fraud he defended that fueled the riots and said he did not condone the riots.