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D: Well, my lawyer tells me, you know, that, "legally you are in damn good shape."
P: Is that right? Because you're not—you were simply helping the defendants get their fees and their —what does he say?
D: In that position, I am merely a conduit ... I am a conduit to other people. That is the problem.
P: What was the situation, John? The only time I ever heard any discussion of support for the [Watergate burglars'] defense fund was [inaudible]. I guess I should have assumed somebody was helping them. I must have assumed it. But I must say people were good in a way because I was busy.
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P: What did you report to me on, though? It was rather fragmentary, as I recall it. You said Hunt had a problem ... I said, "Why, John, how much is it going to cost to do this?"
D: That's right.
P: And you said it could cost a million dollars.
D: I said it conceivably could. I said, "If we don't cut this thing ...
P: Who handled the money?
D: Well, let me tell you the rest of what Hunt said.
He said, "You tell Dean that I need $72,000 for my personal expenses, $50,000 for my legal fees and if I don't get it I am going to have some things to say about the seamy things I did at the White House for John Ehrlichman." All right, I took that to John Ehrlichman. Ehrlichman said, "Have you talked to Mitchell about it?" I said, "No, I have not."
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D: I talked to Mitchell ... A few days later ... Ehrlichman said ... "Well, is that problem with Hunt straightened out?" He said it to me and I said "Well, ask the man who may know: Mitchell." Mitchell said, "I think that problem is solved."
Looking toward his defenses, Nixon constructs a scenario for Dean to follow.
P: I just wanted to be sure that it jives with the facts. I can say that you did tell me that nobody in the White House was involved and I can say that you then came in, at your request, and said, "I think the President needs to hear more about this case."
D: That's right.
P: Then it was that night that I started my investigation.
P: That is when I frankly became interested in the case and I said, "Now [expletive omitted] I want to find out the score."
Under Nixon's questioning, Dean describes how Magruder and Mitchell have tried to get him to perjure himself.
P: What got Magruder to talk? I would like to take the credit...
D: The situation there is that he and Mitchell were continuing to talk. Proceeding along the same course they had been proceeding to locking their story, but my story did not fit with their story. And I just told them I refused to change, to alter my testimony ...
P: Oh yes, I remember. You told me that. I guess everybody told me that. Dean said, "I am not going down there and lie," because your hand will shake and your emotions. Remember you told me that.
D: Yes, I said that. I am incapable of it.
P: Thank God. Don't ever do it, John. Tell the truth.
That is the thing I have told everybody around here ... If you are going to lie, you go to jail for the lie rather than the crime. So believe me,