JOHN DEAN

The Watergate figure interpreted Attorney General Merrick Garland's latest comments as a warning to the ex-president and his allies.

"Indications are that Trump is much more involved in this whole thing than we think he was,” said Dean, who knows all about problematic presidents.

FILE - In this Monday, June 9, 1997, file photo, G. Gordon Liddy kneels next to his Corvette outside the Fairfax, Va., radio station where he broadcasts his syndicated radio talk show. Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary and a radio talk show host after emerging from prison, has died at age 90. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)WASHINGTON – G. Gordon Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary and a radio talk show host after emerging from prison, died Tuesday at age 90 at his daughter's home in Virginia. After his release from prison, Liddy became a popular, provocative and controversial radio talk show host. His syndicated radio talk show, broadcast from Virginia-based WJFK, was long one of the most popular in the country.

And he had demanded in advance that the results be known on Election Day, which is never a given. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell waited until Friday morning to tweet that “Every legal vote should be counted. All sides must get to observe the process.”Whether that dynamic will continue if fuller election results deliver the presidency to Biden is another key unanswered question. If the vote count goes against him, does he really want to be remembered as the president who burned down the building on his way out the door? ___EDITOR’S NOTE -- Nancy Benac is White House news editor and has covered government and politics for The Associated Press for four decades.

This image provided by the Richard Nixon Foundation shows a copy of correspondence between Donald Trump and Richard Nixon. The letters between once and future presidents, revealed for the first time in an exhibit that opens Thursday, Sept. 23, 2020, at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, show the two men engaged in something of an exercise in mutual affirmation. The museum shared the letters exclusively with The Associated Press ahead of the exhibits opening. (Richard Nixon Foundation via AP)

This image provided by the Richard Nixon Foundation shows a copy of correspondence between Donald Trump and Richard Nixon. (Richard Nixon Foundation via AP)WASHINGTON – They were two men in Manhattan who craved the same thing: validation. The two had been spotted together at the “21” nightclub and Trump was writing Nixon to thank him for forwarding a photo. )” Nixon writes to Trump. Pat Nixon thought Trump did “great,” Nixon writes.

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 1973 file photo, President Richard Nixon speaks near Orlando, Fla. to the Associated Press Managing Editors annual meeting. Nixon told the APME "I am not a crook." There were two men in 1980s Manhattan who craved validation one a past president, one a future president. Thats how a thirty-something Donald Trump and a seventy-ish Richard Nixon struck up a decade-long correspondence in the 1980s that meandered from football and real estate to Vietnam and media strategy. Their letters are being revealed for the first time in an exhibit that opens Thursday at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum.

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 1973 file photo, President Richard Nixon speaks near Orlando, Fla. to the Associated Press Managing Editors annual meeting. There were two men in 1980s Manhattan who craved validation one a past president, one a future president. Their letters are being revealed for the first time in an exhibit that opens Thursday at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum. “Let me be so presumptuous as to offer a little free advice (which is worth, incidentally, exactly what it costs!”) Nixon writes to Trump. Pat Nixon thought Trump did “great,” Nixon writes.

"When the president does it, that means it is not illegal." When former President Nixon said that more than four decades ago, he'd already left office while facing impeachment proceedings. Now, in 2020, President Trump's defense team is making an identical argument to say the commander-in-chief shouldn't be impeached. "Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest," Dershowitz said. Despite that argument, Nixon expressed remorse in other parts of the interview something that, so far, hasn't factored into the White House's defense of Mr. Trump.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotoBoth are veterans of U.S. political scandals that threatened the White House, and they have a warning for the witnesses who are testifying against President Donald Trump in the current public impeachment hearings. Those on the wrong side of the president discovered just how much intimidation a White House can marshal, especially when backed by outside acolytes and media allies. Tripp, who encouraged former White House intern Monica Lewinsky to step forward and disprove Clintons denials of their affair, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler/File PhotoThat led to death threats so vicious he spent 18 months in and out of witness protection, Dean said in a telephone interview. Dean said the Trump witnesses could avoid similar treatment if Republican leaders toned down their rhetoric, but he was pessimistic considering that some were advocating revealing the name of the whistleblower.

New John Dean book reflects on Watergate, Richard Nixon John Dean, who was the White House counsel under former President Richard Nixon, played a pivotal role in bringing down Nixon's presidency. 40 years later, Dean's new book "The Nixon Defense" looks back on that experience.