Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 29, 1974 (2/2)
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 29, 1974 (2/2)
[00.14.26] The CHAIRMAN. The time Of the gentleman has expired. All those--time in support of the amendment has all expired. There are remaining 4 minutes -for those in opposition to the amendment. I recognize Mr. Hogan for 4 minutes. Mr. HOGAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As our extremely articulate colleague from Texas, Ms. Jordan indicated, we are, not here debating the President's authority to tap phones, in national security matters nor are -we debating those areas where in criminal cases on a warrant phones may be tapped. My good friends on this side of the aisle are, if they will forgive me, engaged in a shell game. They are trying to put the emphasis on whether or not there is wiretap authority. What the issue is here is illegal wiretaps. Now, when the Time magazine story was about, to break, the President was involved in the--about the wiretaps program at the White House, the President was involved in the creation of a fabrication that there was no such program. Subsequently, he publicly acknowledged it and as late as July 12, 1974, in a letter to -the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee he states- "I personally directed the surveillance including the wiretapping of certain specific individuals." Now, my friends are talking about the Ellsberg leaks. I share their concern about that. I think it was reprehensible. One of the greatest tragedies in all of this is that because. of the misconduct of employees at the White House and the President, Ellsberg escaped prosecution for leaking, that, confidential information, and I abhor that as much as anyone on this side of the aisle. But there is absolutely no justification for some of the pure, the pure and simple illegalities involved this area of the law. The Secret Service has no authority, statutorily, to tap phones. They did at the direction of the White House, and obviously at the direction of the President tap the phone of his brother, with no statutory authority. The CIA was asked and sometimes they refused, sometimes they cooperated, in activities inside the United States. Their statutory authority specifically forbids them to be involved in any domestic activities. Directing the FBI to investigate Daniel Schorr because they did not like the kinds of things he was saying about the administration--another misuse of the President's power. When it was discovered they said he was being considered for a job. We had testimony here that that was a story which the President helped to fabricate. He at no, time was under any consideration for a job. NOW, let's look to some of the specific wiretaps. The Joseph Kraft wiretap. If it was a criminal case they needed a warrant. They had no -warrant. If it was a national security case, they needed the approval of the Attorney General. They had no approval from the Attorney General. He was not involved in publishing leaked materials. That pure and simple an effort, to get, information On a so-called White House enemy. It has been said many times about the former National Security Council employees who left their jobs and the wiretaps continued for a long time. There is only one thing I want to add to that. Indicative of what they had in mind here was that Henry Kissinger no longer got, those wiretap reports for the 8 additional months while they were working for Senator Muskie, They then went to Haldeman who was not concerned directly with the National Security Council. Now, another thing that disturbs me about this is that Alexander Haig directed the FBI on the highest authority not to maintain regular records of the wiretaps and not to treat them in the same fashion that other national security taps were treated by the FBI, and the Joseph Kraft's tap went into that category. So there were no records of the FBI so that when the Department of Justice was asked in the Ellsberg case if they had ever overheard him in any conversations the Justice Department directed the FBI- to check their files, they came back. and said no, there is no evidence of any indication of wiretaps because the records were all at the White House. As I indicated this morning, they were personally delivered to the Oval Office by Mardian, direct Presidential involvement. I wish I had another hour,. The CHAIRMAN. The time of the gentleman has expired. All time, has expired. And the question now occurs on the amendment No. 2 offered by the gentleman from California. All those in favor of the amendment please signify by saying Aye. [Chorus of "ayes."] The CHAIRMAN. All those opposed. [chorus of "noes."] The CHAIRMAN. The noes appear to have it. The gentleman from New Jersey ? Mr. SANDMAN. I demand the yeas and nays The CHAIRMAN.. The gentleman demands a call of the roll and the yeas and nays are ordered. All those in favor of the amendment, please say aye. All those opposed, no. The clerk will call the roll. The CLERK. Mr. Donohue. Mr. DONOHUE NO. The CLERK. Mr. Brooks. Mr. BROOKS. NO. The CLERK. Mr. Kastenmeier. MR. KASTENMEIER. NO. The CLERK. Mr. Edwards. Mr. EDWARDS. No. The, CLERK. Mr. Hungate. Mr. HUNGATE. NO. The CLERK. Mr. Conyers. Mr. CONYERS. NO. The CLERK. Mr. Eilberg. Mr. EILBERG. NO. The CLERK. Mr. Waldie. Mr. WALDIE. NO. The CLERK. Mr. Flowers. Mr. FLOWERS. No. The CLERK. Mr. Mann. Mr. MANN. NO. The CLERK. 'Mr. Sarbanes. Mr. SARBANES. NO. The CLERK. Mr. Seiberling. Mr. SEIBERLING. No. The CLERK. Mr. Danielson. Mr. DANIELSON. No. THE CLERK. Mr. Drinan. Mr. DRINAN. No. The CLERK. Mr. Rangel. Mr. RANGEL. NO. The CLERK. Ms. Jordan. Ms. JORDAN. NO. The CLERK. Mr. Thornton. Mr. THORNTON. -NO. The CLERK. Ms. Holtzman. MS. HOLTZMAN. NO. The CLERK. Mr. Owens. Mr. OWENS. No. AL The CLERK. Mr. Mezvinsky. MEZVINSKY. -NO. The CLERK. Mr. Hutchinson. Mr. HUTCHINSON. Aye The CLERK. Mr. McCLORY. . Mr. McCLORY. -No. The CLERK. Mr. Smith. Mr. SMITH. Aye. The CLERK. Mr. Sandman. Mr. SANDMAN. Aye. The CLERK. Mr. Railsback. Mr. RAILSBACK. NO. The CLERK. Mr. Wiggins. Mr. WIGGINS. Aye. The CLERK. Mr. Dennis. Mr. DENNIS. Aye. The CLERK. Mr. Fish. Mr. FISH. No. The CLERK. Mr. Mayne. Mr. MAYNE. Aye. The CLERK. Mr. Hogan. Mr. HOGAN. No. The, CLERK. Butler. Mr. Mr. BUTLER. No. The CLERK. Mr. Cohen. Mr. COHEN. No. The CLERK. Mr. Lott. Mr. LOTT. Aye. The CLERK. Mr. Froehlich. Mr. FROEHLICH. No. The CLERK. MR. Moorhead. Mr. MOORHEAD. Ave. The CLERK. Maraziti. Mr. MARAZITI. Aye. The CLERK. Mr. Latta. Mr. LATTA. Aye. The CLERK. Mr. Rodino. The CHAIRMAN. NO. [01.21.44]