Michael Cohen Is 'Looking for a Deal' and 'Upping the Stakes,' Says Watergate's John Dean

One of the men who testified against President Richard Nixon and helped to expose Watergate, said Thursday that President Donald Trump's ex-attorney Michael Cohen was clearly looking for a deal with federal prosecutors.

Events, he said, are not "boding well" for Trump.

John Dean, who served as White House counsel to Nixon, was a central figure in the Watergate scandal. He was speaking after a CNN report cited anonymous sources suggesting that Cohen was willing to testify that Trump knew beforehand about a 2016 meeting between his son, Donald Trump Jr., and Russians linked to Vladimir Putin who had suggested they had compromising material about his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Trump's legal team, most notably his attorney and adviser Rudy Giuliani, has repeatedly attempted to diminish Cohen. But Dean drew a comparison to himself.

"When I became a witness there was a huge effort to discredit me. It was just my word against Nixon's until the tape came out," Dean told CNN. "And they worked mightily to try and discredit me, and they also floated what they thought would be my testimony, which was not my testimony."

Dean continued: "I don't think it is boding well for the president. It's clear, as I read the situation, that Michael Cohen is looking for a deal and he is upping the stakes."

While referring to the public efforts of Cohen's new attorney, Lanny Davis, Dean said Cohen was ready to play for "team America."

"Lanny is out there, putting information out, forcing the president's people to respond. He's made it very clear that he has had a reset, and he's now determined to tell the truth. As some prosecutors would say he's ready to play on team America with the federal government," Dean said.

Dean was one of many to have drawn a comparison between Trump and Nixon. As evidence of links between the Trump campaign and Russia mounted, the president publicly supported Russia and disparaged the findings of his own intelligence agencies, leading some to accuse him of treason.

Both CNN and NBC News reported that Cohen was willing to expose damaging information about the president. But Trump denied the reports Friday and claimed Cohen was trying to "make up stories" to get himself out from under the federal prosecutors investigating his businesses.

"I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary's lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!" Trump tweeted.