Watergate Hearings - John Dean: Opening Statement (Part II)
Watergate Hearings - John Dean: Opening Statement (Part II)
(07:10:53) Opens to JOHN DEAN, former Presidential Counsel, in the midst of his opening statement, he is discussing Nixon's desire to give a counter-offensive speech siting reports from government intelligence agencies which show that demonstrations held during the 1972 campaign were the product of Democratic attempts to damage Nixon's campaign, the reports however that were recieved could show no Democratic influence in these demonstrations (07:11:45) Dean talks about how leaks were a source of paranoia and illegal operations for the White House, Dean tells about how one of his fellow staffers, JACK CAULFIELD, bugged the phone of newsman it was feared was going to release some unfavorable information about the White House (07:14:00) Dean goes on to say that paranoia over leaks increased ten fold when the Pentagon Papers began to be published in the New York Times in 1971, he tells another story of a Caulfield operation, this time it was a request that Caulfield burglarize and fire bomb the Brookings Institute which it was believed had leaked White House documents and which was planning on publishing a book on the Vietnam War, Dean got this mission cancelled as he and Caulfield both agreed it was "insane" (07:16:44) Dean tells about the after-math after Time Magazine informed the White House that they were going to run a story on how the White House had been tapping the phones of newsman, Dean says that there was a phone log of the tapped information that everyone was rushing to keep hidden (07:19:38) Dean discusses the so-called "Plumber's Unit" which was a sensor system and scrambler phone used to detect leaks (07:21:50) Dean mentions a meeting Nixon called at the White House to curtail all leaks out which came a project to scope out leak sources, Dean says it produced not one (07:22:45) Dean turns to discussing political intelligence (07:23:10) Backwards skip 10 seconds - Dean mentions his first information reconaissance mission dealing with the FBI (07:24:30) Dean discusses dirt digging on TED KENNEDY, he says that within 6 hours of the accident at Chappaquidit (?) the White House had their own investigators on the scene, he goes on to give more details on surveilance of Kennedy (07:25:55) Skip in footage, color tones down - Different day of the Hearings, Dean is being question by Senator Montoya about Nixon's request that he keep a list during the 1972 Presidential campaign of those members of the press who seemed to work against his re-election so that they can be subject to IRS audits after the election, Dean says he told Nixon the IRS was not in the control of the White House and that this couldn't be done (07:27:55) Dean discusses phone conversations the with IRS head Mr. WALTERS (07:28:50) Committee Chairman SAMUEL ERVIN mentions how he too was a target of White House investigation for his participation in this Senate Investigative Committee and that attempts to find dirt on him were useless because of his pristene record and great popularity - he reads from a newspaper article stating these things and gets a hearty laugh from the whole hearing room