Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 27, 1974 (1/2)
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 27, 1974 (1/2)
[00.36.15] Mr. EILBERG. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman? The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr. Eilberg Mr. EILBERG. Mr. -Chairman, I have listened with great interest to the statement of the gentleman that was just made, and he talks again repeatedly about the lack of direct evidence. talks about circumstantial evidence and how vague it is, and I would like to place in the record this point some of the cases of direct evidence so that we have at one place a number of specific examples where there is direct evidence, of the knowledge and participation by the President. Some of these have been repeated before. but I will just take a few minutes to point them out. Specifically, Colson reported that on June 17 or June 18 when the -President first learned of the break-in. he threw an ashtray across the room. This is direct evidence that the President knew that either CRP or White House persons were involved. Specifically. on June 20 after 3 days of constant activity by the President's principal assistants, Haldeman met with the. President and discussed -what the President thought should be done about Watergate Haldeman's sketchy notes, show that the President decided that there should be an attack for diversion. This tape was intentionally destroyed This is direct evidence that the President was involved. It is also evidence that he must, have believed the tape was incriminating. Specifically, on June 20 the President had a conversation with Mitchell. The President made a dictabelt of this conversation. This dictabelt with the President's recollection shows that the President knew that CRP had a relationship with the burglary. 'Mitchell apologized for not supervising his men because the matter had not been handled Properly. On June 20, Mitchell issued a false press release denying any CRP involvement. The President because of his conversation with Mitchell, "had to know this to be false. Notwithstanding this fact, the President Made a statement to the press 'which told the public that what John N. Mitchell had said was true. This is direct evidence of the President's active Participation and leadership. On June 30, the President, Mitchell, and Haldeman had a conversations about why it, made sense for Mitchell to resign. This conversation discloses that both Haldeman and the President believed that more things might surface in the Watergate, and now was the time for Mitchell to leave before they did. On. July 6, the President failed to make any inquiry into Pat Gray's warning that his aides were mortally wounding him. This is direct evidence of the President's unwillingness to have their coverup activities brought to light. on July 8, without any conceivable rational basis for doing so, he", discussed with Ehrlichman on the beach in Key Biscayne whether clemency should be offered to the persons involved in the Watergate, This conversation can make no sense at all unless the President was involved in making decisions relating to concealment of the Watergate. On August 29, the President made a false press release about the fact that both John Dean and Clark MacGregor were making investigating investigations, Dean at the White House and MacGregor at the CRP. 'No investigation had in fact been made of either organization. On September 15, the President sent, for John Dean and told him he had done a good job and gave him directions as to how to stop the Patman committee from being effective. I could 'go on, Mr. Chairman, but these are just some of the cases where the, President had direct knowledge, participation, and direction. The CHAIRMAN. I recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Danielson. Mr. DANIELSON. Mr. Chairman, I oppose the motion to strike. I am not going to rehash this long list of evidentiary matters which have been so ably presented and which I think we all know almost to the point of nauseam here. 'But I do want to respond again to the comments, the arguments of the distinguished gentleman from Indiana , Mr. Dennis, who seems to continually feel that there is no evidence that puts this contact directly in the lap, in the mouth of President Richard M. Nixon. I respectfully suggest if we will just go to the President's taped transcript of September 15, 1972, and I am not go going to read it, it has been read time and time again, but you will remember- that with John Dean, that afternoon, when John Dean came back the courthouse, he complimented John Dean on the fact that that time at least Dean had been very skillful. He put his fingers the dike. He had stopped all the leaks. He had held and contained investigation to the five actual burglars and the two surrogate burglars, the leaders of that pack, Liddy and Hunt, Now, those were words coming out of the mouth of the President of the, United States in the Oval Office, the seat of Government. Can you tell me that he did not know what he, was talking about? Mr. DENNIS. Does the gentleman want to yield on that? Mr. DANIELSON. If he did not--I do not yield. If he, did not know what he was talking about---- Mr. DENNIS. I thought, you -wanted an answer to the question. Mr. DANIELSON. That in itself is an Impeachable situation. He certainly ought to know what he is talking about when he uses that language. Let' Let's go on, and I am not going on to February 21--excuses me March 21. On February 28, 1973, another transcript from the President; Dean and the President are talking. What are they talking about? The usual thing, Watergate, only this time it is money. Money. Spell it out, pronounce it by name. And they are talking about a lot of money here. They are talking about paying' off these people who were not supposed to break, who were not supposed to explain their participation in the Watergate unlawful entry and in the coverup that followed and--who are we talking about? Of course, the four Cubans, but addition McCord and, far more importantly, E. Howard Hunt. [00.42.25]