Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Testimony of James W McCord (Jim McCord)
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Testimony of James W McCord (Jim McCord)
Master 10361 Part 1 Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 18, 1973. Testimony of James W McCord (Jim McCord) accompanied by Bernard Fensterwald Jr, Counsel Caucus Room, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington DC
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Testimony of James W McCord (Jim McCord)
Senator Sam Ervin (D North Carolina). Council call the next witness. Samuel Dash, attorney. Mr. James McCord. Senator Sam Ervin (D North Carolina). Mr. McCord, raise your right hand. Do you swear the evidence you shall give to the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? James McCord. I do. Samuel Dash, attorney. Mr. McCord, will you bring the microphone closer to you so we will hear you. Now, for the record, will you first state your name and address? James McCord. James W. McCord. M-c-C-o-r-d, Jr., the address is No. 7 Winder, W-i-n-d-e-r, Winder Court, Rockville, Maryland 20850. Samuel Dash, attorney. Are you accompanied with counsel this morning? James McCord. I am. Samuel Dash, attorney. Will counsel please identify himself? Bernard Fensterwald, attorney. Yes, my name is Bernard Fensterwald, Jr., my business address is 910 16th Street NW, Washington DC. Samuel Dash, attorney. Mr. McCord, prior to your testimony, do you have any preliminary statement you may wish to make to the committee? James McCord. Yes, there is. I would like to state as I did when I appeared at the executive session of this committee that I would like to be as accurate as I can that some of the dates that I will refer to, there are approximately 75 to 100 different dates, I will try to recall to the best of my memory. Some may be inaccurate. As I stated when I first appeared, some matters go back some 12 or 14 months and some of the matters that are of interest to this committee I have therefore set forth in writing, attempting to reconstruct my memory to the best of my ability. I may refer to some of those memoranda during this meeting and to other notes that pertain to dates and I hope you will bear with me and understand my reason in that regard. I will state finally that my participation in the Watergate operation on my part, for whatever reasons I may have had at the time, whatever rationale I may have at the time, was an error, was a mistake, and a very grave mistake, which I regret. I am ready to proceed with the questions.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Testimony of James W McCord (Jim McCord)
Samuel Dash, attorney. All right. Now, is it a fact, now, Mr. McCord, that you presently stand convicted on a multicount Federal indictment charging burglary, electronic surveillance and conspiracy arising out of the break in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate? James McCord. That is correct. Samuel Dash, attorney. Are you now awaiting sentence on that conviction? James McCord. That is correct. Samuel Dash, attorney. What is your professional background, Mr. McCord? James McCord. I was born in 1924 in Waurika, Oklahoma. I worked first for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1942, 1943, in Washington DC, in New York City in radio intelligence duties. I subsequently from 1943 to 1945, was an Army Air Corps officer. From 1948 to 1951, I worked as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in San Diego and San Francisco, California. I worked from 1951 to 1970 with the Central Intelligence Agency as a security officer. I retired from that agency in August 1970 after 25 years Federal service. Do you want the educational background or not? Samuel Dash, attorney. No that's sufficient Mr. McCord. During your service with the CIA and FBI did you receive any awards or commendations for your service? James McCord. I received on retirement in August 1970 the Distinguished Service Award for outstanding performance of duty with CIA. I received some others. Samuel Dash, attorney. Now, prior to your arrest, indictment, and conviction relating to the Watergate incident, were you ever arrested, charged with a crime or the subject of any complaint or disciplinary proceeding in your life? James McCord. I have had traffic violations in the Washington area, yes, sir. Samuel Dash, attorney. Is that all? James McCord. Yes sir. Samuel Dash, attorney. Now, were you an employee of the committee to Re-elect the President? James McCord. I was. Samuel Dash, attorney. What position did you hold and what were your duties? James McCord. I came aboard first as a security consultant part time in September of 1971. Samuel Dash, attorney. By the way, how did you get that job? James McCord. I was introduced initially by Mr. John Caulfield and Mr. Robert Dole, the Director of Administration who testified yesterday, and based on that interview was employed part time, and then full time in January, the first of January 1972.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Testimony of James W McCord (Jim McCord)
Samuel Dash, attorney. Now, what were your duties in that position as Security Chief? James McCord. The duties were essentially the function of the protection of the property and the lives of the personnel of the committee in their facility there and subsequently in the facility at Miami, Florida that the Committee and some of the White House staff were to occupy during the Republican National Convention in August of 1972. The duties were primarily those of physical security protection, personnel security, some document security, and some protective work for the family of John Mitchell. Samuel Dash, attorney. Now, for those duties and that assignment that you have just described under whose direction did you work? James McCord. Primarily under the direction of Mr. Robert Dole who was my immediate supervisor in the committee. The responsibilities with Mr. Mitchell and his family, I received directions from him, from Mrs. Mitchell, from Robert Dole and Fred LaRue from various times. Samuel Dash, attorney. Did there come a time when you worked under the direction of Gordon Liddy? James McCord. Yes, there did. Samuel Dash, attorney. What was Mr. Liddy's position at that time? James McCord. He was at first from December until about March 19, December 71 to about March 1972, general counsel for the Committee to Re-Elect the President. Thereafter he was occupied the same position with the finance committee for the re-election of the President. Samuel Dash, attorney. When did this arrangement begin which you worked under his direction begin, Mr. McCord, with Mr. Liddy? James McCord. The first discussions of the arrangements began sometime in January 1972, early January. Samuel Dash, attorney. Could you briefly state for the committee, Mr. McCord, what it was that Mr. Liddy wanted you to do? James McCord. I can give a bit of a background if you want that. When he first came aboard the committee in December 1971 he began to, we struck up an acquaintance. We had had a common background and he began to question me regarding the state of the art of certain technical devices, for one thing, listening devices and so on. This appeared to be at that point in time a professional interest, a normal professional interest, of someone who had worked in the field of law enforcement. We discussed as well the common topic of common interest to he and to me and to others who were senior on the staff, of the anticipated demonstrations and possible violence that might be coming up in San Diego, California which was originally scheduled to be the convention site for the Republican Convention in 1972 in August. The discussions
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Testimony of James W McCord (Jim McCord)
Samuel Dash, attorney. Could you raise your voice a little if you can, Mr. McCord. Senator Howard Baker (R Tennessee). It might help, if I can interrupt, just for a minute, Mr. McCord. I believe it might help if the panel operator might give us some advice in that respect if you could be it little further away from the microphone and talk a little louder because we are having a difficult time up here, trying to hear you. James McCord. I think I am a little hoarse. If you can turn up the volume it might help. Samuel Dash, attorney. Would you continue? James McCord. Yes. Gradually the discussion in December, January, February of 1972 with Mr. Liddy, gradually developed into more and more conversation on his part with me in the offices of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President regarding technical devices and political matters pertaining to the forthcoming convention. And it became apparent that he had an interest in several areas of intelligence gathering pertaining to the Democratic Party and the Democratic Convention and in which it was contemplated or planned by him and by others whom he referred to in these conversations as John Mitchell, John Dean, counsel to the President, Jeb Magruder then in January the interim director of the Committee To Re-Elect the President, in which it appeared that those men, the four of them, were in by late January, a planning stage in which political intelligence was to be discussed at meetings at the Attorney General's Office, Mr. Mitchell's office, and in which Mr. Liddy was seeking from me certain information regarding the costs and the types of electronic devices that could be used in bugging. That the part of the budget proposal which he was working, working on, the second part dealt with photography operations, clandestine photography operations and a third part dealt with the broad area of political espionage political intelligence.