Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 29, 1974 (1/2)
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 29, 1974 (1/2)
[00.45.56] The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Iowa, Mr. Mayne, is recognized. Mr. MAYNE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First, I want to agree with the 'gentleman from Maine, Mr. Cohen, that the approach to Judge Byrne about possible employment as the new head of the FBI was certainly highly improper and to discuss with any judge in the. progress of a trial, particularly a trial of major importance such as this, a possible promotion, if it was a promotion, just seems to me so obviously inappropriate that I am surprised and disappointed that this was done by a representative of the President in a conversation that the President himself participated very briefly, not dealing with the actual subject of the appointment, but I also disappointed that Judge Byrne would entertain such an approach in any degree. He did not, of course, declare a mistrial on that ground. He declared a mistrial when the Government disclosed that there had been this invasion of Dr. Fielding's rights by the break-in. And this information was furnished voluntarily, albeit reluctantly, by the President after it became known to him upon the advice of counsel, I believe the Assist' Assistant Attorney General, that it--and the Solicitor General, Dean Griswold, that although it was not technically required, they felt that it was better under all the, circumstances to reveal this and it was reported and a mistrial declared. Now, I just want to emphasize in the time remaining to me that there is absolutely no question on the evidence in this case, aside from some of the argument, that there were serious national security problems in connection -with these leaks which the President carrying out his duty to uphold the defense and national security of the country, was determined to stop. These leaks affected the -war in Vietnam where they affected our troops. They affected our attempts to negotiate, the of the war in Vietnam. They affected the SALT talks. They affected Guam. They affected various negotiations and relationships with the Russians. And to emphasize that this was a legitimate concern of the President, I just want to read from a couple of quotations from Dr. Kissinger referring to these leaks in the-and these appeared in the Presidential presentation book 4, tab 23B, and I quote Dr. Kissinger referring to the damaging nature of these various leaks and disclosures upon our country's interests. And I quote Henry Kissinger: Each of these disclosures was of the most extreme gravity. As presentations of the Government's thinking on these key issues, they provided the Soviet Union with extensive insight as to our approach to the., SALT negotiations and severely Compromised our assessment of the Soviet Union's missile testing and our apparent inability to accurately assess their exact capabilities, The disclosure of the assessment of the 'Soviets' first, strike capability would provide a useful signal to the Soviet Union as to the efficacy of our intelligence system, It would also prematurely reveal the intelligence bases on which we were developing our position for the Impending strategic arms talks. And With regard to the negotiations on Guam, on page 86, Dr. Kissinger stated, and I quote: "The consequences of this disclosure attributed to well placed informants In terms of compromising negotiating tactics prejudicing the Government's interest and complicating our relations with Japan were obvious and clearly preempted by opportunity we might have had for obtaining a more favorable outcome during our negotiations with the Japanese. NOW, the President of the United States had a duty to act and he did act. He may not have done the most effective thing. Clearly this Plumbers unit went astray. They became law breakers. They were caught in a miserable crime out there in California,. But there is absolutely no evidence that the President knew anything about the planning of that in advance. I respectfully submit that the President did try, according to his best judgment, to protect the national security of this country and the mere fact that he didn't do it perfectly and got an inexperienced group who certainly botched the, job and were a discredit to our Country in every respect, that does not mean that he was guilty of a -high crime or misdemeanor for which he should be impeached and that the only basis it seems to me under the Constitution under which -we, can find him impeachable. I yield back- the balance of my time. I yield time-- my remaining time to Mr. Latta of Ohio, if I May. [00.52.33]