Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 29, 1974 (2/2)
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 29, 1974 (2/2)
[01.03.46] Mr. WIGGINS......at that time the President approved of this OF whether it was simply a discussion in the context of the time 3 months before an election in this country. I yield back that time to my friend from New Jersey. Mr. SANDMAN. With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Dennis. The CHAIRMAN. The. gentleman is recognized for 3 minutes. Mr. DENNIS. Mr. Chairman. continuing the situation I think it is worth remembering that Commissioner Walters said on the occasion that Dean came to him that Dean stated that he had not been asked by the President to have this done and he did not know whether the President asked that any of this activity be undertaken And Mr. Dean stated here in this committee in answer to Mr. Railsback, "I don't know of any audits that were accomplished," and that the, Joint Commission Internal Revenue Taxation found that in fact, none of these people were audited. So that is the record on the situation. as to what actually took place as against a political conversation on the 15th day of September. And there is no evidence in the record anywhere that the President ever made any request except a hearsay statement by Clark Mollenhoff, who says that Haldeman told him that the President asked for a report on Governor Wallace's brother, which wouldn't stand up in any court, in the land, and there is no evidence that that, in fact, is the truth and it has been denied by two or three other people during the course of the testimony. And as Mr. Railsback said, there, are good people in this. There is Secretary Shultz, there, is Secretary--Commissioner Thrower, there is Commissioner Walters. All of them' turned Ehrlichman's efforts and Dean's efforts down. There is no evidence of a Presidential effort and the, thing that there is evidence. of is that Secretary Shultz and Commissioner Walters and Commissioner Thrower were Presidential appointments of Richard M. -Nixon. I yield back to the gentleman from New Jersey. Mr. SANDMAN. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio Mr. Latta. Mr. LATTA. Thank you for yielding. I want to reemphasize, underscore in capital letters what has been said by the gentleman from California, Mr. Wiggins, that no one at this table condones any such request that Mr. John Dean put forth, and certainly if the President of the United States had put forth that request I would think that would be an impeachable offense. Now, the question is did he or did he not authorize John Dean to do this? It has been pointed out when he went to Mr. Walters he specifically stated that he was not there at the President's request. I think it is important to note when this whole matter was submitted to Joint Committee on Taxation here in the Congress which is controlled by the opposition party that they Made this report: "The staff's investigation paid particular attention to the cases, of those, individual, mentioned in the press as victims of politically motivated audits. The joint committee staff has difficulty in discussing these cases specifically because of the, problem this would present in violating the individual's rights of confidentiality. Now this is the place I Want to emphasize. "However, none of these cases has the staff found any evidence that the taxpayer was unfairly treated by the Internal Revenue Service Because of Political views or political activities." Now. this conclusion is further supported by the House Judiciary Committee's materials, this committee's materials Commissioner Walters stated in his affidavit of May 6, 1974 with respect to a list furnished him by -Mr. Dean, "At no time did I furnish any names or names from the list to anyone or did I request any IRS employee, or official to take any action with respect, to the list." The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman has consumed 2 minutes and the gentleman from -New Jersey has 6 minutes remaining Mr. SANDMAN. I would like the gentleman from Texas to take the next time. The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Texas has 11 1/2 minutes remaining. The gentleman from Texas. Mr. BROOKS. 'Mr. Chairman. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa, Mr. Mezvinsky. The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Iowa, is recognized. Mr. MEZVINSKY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, this article is the. article on abuse of power. To me it really symbolizes -what the drafters of the Constitution really meant had in mind when they gave us the impeachment process. They were worried when they Just came out, of a revolution that they would find that a President that would abuse the Power Of the Presidency. One of the gentlemen from Virginia, Mr. Randolph. said he. advocated the impeachment process because he was specifically worried that if the President abused the power, it could very well lead to "insurrections" by the people. [01.09.21]