Watergate Hearings - John Dean
Watergate Hearings - John Dean
(06:11:18) Opens to split screen image of Committee Chairman SAMUEL ERVIN questioning JOHN DEAN III, Ervin confirms the fact that the burglary as reported was directly traceable to the Committee to Re-Elect the President, that GORDON LIDDY, JAMES McCORD, E. HOWARD HUNT were pinned with the full blame in grand jury investigations and that JED STUART MAGRUDER committed perjury at grand jury hearings to cover up for himself and other higher up in the chain of authority - Dean concedes this was the plan agreed upon in White House meetings (06:14:05) Dean summarizes a meeting that took place at the White House with H.R. HALDEMAN in which they talked about laying out the facts for the case and the possibility for many of them to be indicted (06:15:00) Ervin confirms with Dean that he received files from the FBI, that he also had them destroy files and that further he tried to get the CIA to help in assisting and supporting the Watergate break-in crew, and finally that the White House employed the services of the IRS to audit enemies (06:18:15) Dean talks about how he met with President NIXON and others to discuss how they might be able to get a Congressional Investigation Committee that would be in their favor and how he was given the assigment of wooing the Attorney General back into the White House "family" (06:21:15) Ervin mentions that the President had a press conference in March 1973 where he sighted the statute that members of the presidential staff do not normally testify before Congressional committees as this is a mix between executive and legislative branches and that informal contacts was to be the method of their correspondence - Ervin cracks a joke about this maneauver (06:22:46) Ervin sites at length a report from the above press conference which gives Nixon's response to the question what would he do if Senator Ervin took the issue to court to force the White House staff to testify, Nixon's response that he is going to stick to his guns and that if it goes to the Supreme Court they would support the constitutional separation of powers within government - Dean confirms that Nixon did not want him or other staff to testify (06:25:28) Ervin sites Nixon's expressed desire in 1973 to see the facts revealed and then asks jokingly if Dean knows how facts can be revealed without the people who know them revealing them (06:26:44) Ervin quotes from the Constitution that it is the President's duty to see that the laws are faithfully executed, he asks if Dean knows of anything that would suggest that Nixon was not faithfully executing the laws with respect to the Watergate affair - Dean excuses himself from drawing his conclusion on this (06:27:50) Ervin confirms with Dean that a test of witness' credibility can only be conducted by interrogating that witness under oath (06:28:58) Skip in footage - Dean sites some financial figure (06:29:18) Skip in footage (06:29:34) Skip in footage - Vice Chairman HOWARD BAKER pays his repects to Dean as a great witness and gives a long winded introduction to his line of questioning, he is cut off by the tape's end as he explains his intent