Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 13, 1973 (1/2)
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 13, 1973 (1/2)
[00.18.45] Senator ERVIN. Yes. Now, at that time Mr. Kalmbach told you that it was a White House project and the request was made on him by higher authority? Mr. STANS. Yes. Senator ERVIN. But he refused to tell You What the money was for? Mr. STANS. That is correct. Senator ERVIN. Now you later found out that that money was given to a man named Tony to bring down to Washington to be used to pay lawyer fees for the defendants in the criminal action before Judge Sirica? Mr. STANS. Yes, I learned that sometime in late April and May--- Senator ERVIN. NOW---- Mr. STANS. Of this year. Senator ERVIN. Don't you know that approximately $450,000, either campaign funds or funds that were raised by people active in the campaign, were given as funds to pay counsel fees for the attorneys for the defendants in the criminal action and to pay their salaries and to take care of their families? Mr. STANS. No, sir, I do not know that. Senator ERVIN. Do you know of anything except the $75,000 that was used for that purpose? Mr. STANS. That is all I know about it. Senator ERVIN. So we have a situation here in the criminal cases where the Department Of Justice, or rather prosecuting attorneys who were prosecuting the case, and to some extent counsel for the defendants in the case, were being paid by people who were active in the campaign isn't that so? Mr. STANS. Well, it depends on how much they were paid and what the, source of the money was. Senator ERVIN. Yes. Mr. STANS. And I really don't know. Senator ERVIN. Only to the extent of $75,000. Mr. STANS. That is correct. And that was not known at the time. Senator ERVIN. -Some very distinguished gentlemen maintain we ought to leave it to the prosecutors and the courts to determine we whole thing and the committee ought to close shop. Now, as understand it, you have no records--, showing that YOU had a meeting with Magruder and Mitchell on June 24, 1972? Mr. STANS. Mr. Chairman, I have something to add to said this morning. I have no records showing that I had any meeting with Magruder or Mitchell on June 24 nor do I have any recollection But because the committee put such emphasis on it, my counsel, at his initiative called Mr. Mitchell's counsel who talked to Mr. Mitchell to see if he had any recollection and this is the report that I got back which Is, quoting Mr. Mitchell. There was a meeting sometime during the day between Mardian, Magruder and Sloan at which Mardian was pushing, Sloan and Magruder to find out how much money Sloan had given to Liddy I was not at the meeting and I did not know who was at the meeting. Then there was a second meeting the same day between Mardian, Sloan, and Mitchell. Mardian got -CA rough on Sloan because -Mardian did not find out from Sloan how much money he had given Liddy. Again I was not at that meeting and I did not know of the meeting at the time it was held. Then according to _Mr. Mitchell's records at 3:40 there was a telephone conversation between Mitchell and me. Whether he placed it originally or whether I did, he did not know. At 4 p.m. I met with Mr. Mitchell in his office, alone, no one, else present. Mitchell told me that Sloan would not tell him how much money Sloan had given Liddy and asked me if I knew and I said I did not. That is all that was said. Now, I am giving you a report which is thirdhand _Mr. Mitchell to his counsel to my counsel to me. As I said earlier, I have no recollection of the meeting and no record of it and I still have no recollection of the meeting but this is Mr. Mitchell's report. Senator ERVIN. Now Mr. STANS. But it did not cover anything beyond the question of how much money did Sloan give Liddy. It did not cover any Of the subjects that were alluded to in the questioning earlier as to whether there was a full discussion of' who was involved in the Watergate and so on. Senator ERVIN. Now, within a few weeks after the break-in you knew that McCord, who had been employed as a security officer for the political committee, as I understand it, that is the committee To Re-Elect the President, had been arrested in the Watergate? Mr. STANS, Yes, I knew that the day after, Senator ERVIN. Then you found out from the press that four, Barker and Sturgis and Gonzales and Martinez had money which had come from 'the proceeds of checks of the committee 'in their pockets at the time they were arrested and in their hotel rooms? Mr. STANS. I knew that only from the press stories. I did not know it of myself. Senator ERVIN. Then a short time later you knew that -Magruder had paid, rather had directed Sloan, and Sloan, at Magruder's direction had paid substantial sums of money to Liddy? Mr. STANS. Yes. [00.25.10]