Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 13, 1973 (1/2)
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 13, 1973 (1/2)
[00.46.37] Senator INOUYE. Mr. Secretary, you stated yesterday, that Mr. Magruder told you sometime in May, I believe you said the latter part of May, that Mr. Liddy was to provide security at the San Diego convention. Did I hear correctly, sir? Mr. STANS. Yes, that was about all I ever heard about Mr. Liddy's activities except, as I said, when I came to the committee in February I got intimations from someone that Mr. Liddy was using relatively small amounts of cash in connection with the primaries. Senator INOUYE. So you provided funds to Mr. Liddy in May for security activity in San Diego? Mr. STANS. I did not provide Mr. Liddy any funds. The funds came from the treasurer an came to him-came to Liddy, I believe, before the time of my conversation with Magruder, indicating that this was for convention security. Senator INOUYE. When was the conversation with Mr. Magruder? Mr. STANS. Well, I really cannot in it down by date. Senator INOUYE. The early part of May? Mr. STANS. I have testified earlier that I think it was in the latter part of May, It may have been in the early part of June. But it had no relation to the timing of the Watergate developments. Senator INOUYE. Mr. secretary, are you aware that the transfer of the Republican Convention from San Diego to Miami was made public on April 21? Mr. STANS. I do not recall the exact date, but nevertheless, that was what Mr. Magruder told me as to what Liddy had been using the money for. Senator INOUYE. Was this not a major decision in which I am certain you must have participated? Mr. STANS. I had no part in the decision to move the convention from San Diego to Miami. Senator INOUYE. Even when it meant the additional sums of money? Mr. STANS, Well, I think this is pretty good evidence of the fact that the finance committee had very little to say in the campaign. We knew that the convention in San Diego was going to cost a lot of money. I had seen budgets indicating that it was going to cost $3 million because of structural changes to the building in San Diego and so on. But we had no voice in that decision. It was a Presidential decision and we in the finance committee accepted it as something that had to be coped with. Now, having said that, there was a separate committee that had the responsibility of financing the convention. There was a separate convention committee, and it had its own funds which were not part of our responsibility to raise, except that as these things go, if they had run short, I am certain they would have come to our treasury in order to make up any deficit on the costs of the convention. Senator INOUYE. So you are testifying that in middle May or late May, you were not aware that the party had changed its convention site? Mr. STANS, Oh, I am -not testifying to that at all. I cannot put the date, but, I was aware of what, was being said in the press and certainly was conscious of that. Senator INOUYE. On July 1, or June 29, somewhere in that period, Mr. Kalmbach called you and advised you that, there was a very urgent, request for cash funds for a special purpose. NOW, in the, weeks prior to that, questionable activities were being reported in the press. Were you not a bit curious as to what, these funds were going to be used for? Mr. STANS. Well, Senator, I think you--it is very easy for all of us in retrospect to assume a lot, of knowledge in the week following the disclosure of the, Watergate break-in. But this came step-by-step, day-by-day, slowly. I do not believe that I had any knowledge of any activities in connection with Watergate except that, Mr. McCord was one of those arrested and I did not know Mr. McCord. I was aware that, Sloan had made payments to Liddy; there was the possible connection there. But it was not until the 28th of June, which is later than the date you are referring to, that, Mr. Liddy refused to answer questions of the FBI and I discharged him, discharged him on advice of counsel the minute I had heard about it. Senator INOUYE. On the 28th of June' [00.51.40] Mr. STANS. 28th of June. Senator INOUYE. 1972? Mr. STANS. Yes. Senator INOUYE. And Mr. Kalmbach made the request, on June 29? Mr. STANS. On the 29th of June, the very next day. Senator INOUYE. And you were not a bit suspicious then? Mr. STANS. I was, not. I knew Mr. Kalmbach very well and he was a man who had close ties in the White House, had had them for years, including being counsel to the President. I trusted him implicitly as a man of honor and integrity, and when he came. to me and said he needed money for a, special purpose, I had no reason to assume that it was anything but proper.