Testimony of Bernard L. Barker - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Testimony of Bernard L. Barker - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973 - Testimony of Bernard L. Barker United States Senate Caucus Room, Washington DC
Testimony of Bernard L. Barker - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. Mr. Barker, you are 55 years old. Mr. BARKER. Fifty-six. Senator BAKER. You have a real estate business in Miami; you were previously involved in the Bay of Pigs operations for the CIA. You are a veteran of the U.S. Army in World War II where you were a captain in the Army Air Corps, and you were a German prisoner of war for 17 months. Mr. BARKER. Sixteen months.
Testimony of Bernard L. Barker - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. Mr. Barker, what on earth would motivate you at your station in life, at your age, and with that background, to do something that surely you knew to be illegal? Mr. BARKER. Senator, E. Howard Hunt, under the name of Eduardo, represents to the Cuban people their liberation. I cannot deny my services in the way that it was proposed to me on a matter of national security, knowing that, with my training, I had personnel available for this type of operation. I could not deny this request at the time. Senator BAKER. Why? Mr. BARKER. Because I felt it was my duty to comply with Mr. Hunt's request. Senator BAKER. Why? Mr. BARKER. Because it involved a matter of national security. Senator BAKER. Why? Mr. BARKER. Because this was a service to my country, sir.
Testimony of Bernard L. Barker - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. What national security? Mr. BARKER. Discovering information about a person who I had been told by Mr. Hunt was a traitor, who was passing - he or his associates - to a foreign embassy. Senator BAKER. Who? Mr. BARKER. Pardon me. [Conferring with counsel.] The Soviet Embassy. Senator BAKER. Who? Mr. BARKER. Who? I do not understand. Who what, sir? Senator BAKER. Who was passing the information to the Soviet Embassy? Mr. BARKER. At that time Mr. Ellsberg's name was not mentioned. Mr. Ellsberg's name was mentioned to me a half hour before the surreptitious entry; then when I found out the name of the person involved
Testimony of Bernard L. Barker - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. What was the connection between the allegations of the Ellsberg situation and the imminent and impending break-in into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex? Mr. BARKER. At that time, none. After that Ellsberg, we came up on a matter involving security. At the death of Mr. Hoover. The third time Senator BAKER. At the request of Mr. Hoover? Mr. BARKER. At the death of Mr. Hoover. Senator BAKER. At the what? Mr. BARKER. At the death of Mr. Hoover. Senator BAKER. At the death of Mr. Hoover. Why did you come up then? Mr. BARKER. I came up with about 10 Cubans to infiltrate this group for security reasons. Senator BAKER. What group? Mr. BARKER. A group of persons who were demonstrating in front of the Capitol against the war in Vietnam. The group included Mr. Ellsberg, Mr. Kuntsler, and other persons that were not of the same age level as the persons that were there, which were the long-haired hippie type. Senator BAKER. Why? Why did you do that? What did that have to do with your business in Florida or your loyalty to the United States or freedom of Cuba? Why were you concerned with infiltration of a group which was demonstrating either against the war or in presence of the last rites for J. Edgar Hoover; why did you do that? Mr. BARKER. I was following Mr. Hunt's instructions. Senator BAKER. Did Mr. Hunt say why he wanted you to do that? Mr. BARKER. As a matter of security. He said that there was, the best that I can recall there was, information that these people would probably desecrate the tomb of Mr. Hoover. It was also told to me that these people would wave a Vietcong flag, and if possible to get that flag away from them. But it was not my decision. At that time I was assisting Mr. Hunt.
Testimony of Bernard L. Barker - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. Mr. Barker, when Mr. Hunt spoke of Ellsberg and the leak to the Soviet Embassy 30 minutes prior to your entry into the Watergate complex and the Democratic headquarters, are you speaking of the first break-in or the second? Mr. BARKER. No, 30 minutes, the name of Ellsberg was given to me about a half hour before the break-in into the psychiatrist's office. Senator BAKER. I am sorry, I misunderstood you. May I go back then and ask you why, what was your motivation, what persuaded you to enter the Watergate complex? Mr. BARKER. Senator, like I said, it started out with Ellsberg, then it came to Hoover, then we came up for these operations which involved not only the break-in at the Democratic national headquarters, but I supposed, the same type of a mission into the McGovern headquarters, and our mission at those times were only to obtain and to try to locate documents that would prove that the Democratic Party and Senator McGovern were receiving contributions nationally, and national and foreign contributions, from organizations that were leftist organizations and inclined to violence in the United States, and also from the Castro government.
Testimony of Bernard L. Barker - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. Did you ever find any such documentation? Mr. BARKER. No, we did not find these documents; no, sir. Senator BAKER. Did you have any reason to believe that such documentation existed? Mr. BARKER. The fact that the Castro government was aiding the Democratic Party had been rumored and had been spoken of freely in Miami from different organizations of personalities that I had confidence in. However, I have no hard evidence at all that this was true. Senator BAKER. This played some part in your motivation for making the entry into Watergate? Mr. BARKER. Part, yes. Not the whole motivation. Senator BAKER. What other part? Mr. BARKER. As I explained before, we were assisting Mr. Hunt, who was a known factor m the time of the liberation of Cuba. We had hopes that Mr. Hunt's position in the White House would be a decisive factor at a later date for obtaining help in the liberation of Cuba. Senator BAKER. Mr. Barker, are these reasons that you have just stated the basis for your previous statement a moment ago that you believed what you did was correct? Mr. BARKER. That is true, sir. Senator BAKER. Are there other reasons? Mr. BARKER. No, there are no other reasons that I can think of.