John Dean, a key figure in the Watergate scandal, said he'd 'pay to handle' Trump's deposition which he thinks could 'sell tickets'

Former White House counsel John Dean is seen on the left, testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee in June 1973. Then-President Donald Trump is seen on the right in Texas on January 12, 2021.

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• Trump said he would voluntarily give a deposition in a lawsuit he filed against big tech companies.
• John Dean, a key Watergate figure said he'd pay to do that deposition, CNN reported.
• Dean said even though Trump would lie, he'd press him on what he was doing during the Capitol riot.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Key Watergate figure John Dean told CNN he'd pay to handle former President Donald Trump's deposition that Trump said he wanted to voluntarily do in a lawsuit he filed against Twitter, Facebook, and Google.

"I would pay to do that deposition. I think a lot of attorneys would," Dean told CNN's Jim Acosta on Sunday.

In an interview with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly earlier this week, Trump said he wanted to do a deposition in the lawsuit against the companies.

"I mean, I look forward to it, actually," Trump said. "I love talking about the election fraud."

Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook banned Trump after the January 6 Capitol riots, after he repeatedly made false claims of election fraud.

During the riots, supporters of Trump breached the Capitol building and clashed with law enforcement.

Read more: Where is Trump's White House staff now? We created a searchable database of more than 327 top staffers to show where they all landed

Dean, who worked as former President Richard Nixon's White House Counsel and later testified about the Watergate scandal in front of Congress, said Trump set a legal trap for himself by saying that.

"He's always said 'I'm willing to give a deposition', just like he's always said 'I'm going to turn over my tax returns when the audit's finished.' He'll have an excuse for this," Dean told CNN.

Dean said big tech shouldn't try to dismiss the case but instead "engage" with Trump because "he's going to lose on the merits. Seriously lose on the merits."

Dean said he'd go straight into asking about what Trump was talking about and knew during the Capitol riot.

"He'll lie. He's a very good liar, we know that, but I think if you start drawing in some of the papers and facts that are now appearing he's going to have more trouble with it," Dean told CNN.

Dean added that the deposition could warrant selling tickets.

"It could be a dandy deposition. I think you could sell tickets for it and do quite well," he said.

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