Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 14, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 14, 1973
[00.12.45] Senator GURNEY. And the sole subject, of the meeting -was a discussion of Mr. Liddy's intelligence plan? Mr. MAGRUDER. AS I recall, at the beginning of the meeting, we did discuss the new election law which was about, ready to be -passed in the Senate and the House the following week, as I recall. Senator GURNEY. 'Of course, I understand why Mr. Mitchell was there--he was going to head up the campaign--and you, the, deputy director. And Liddy was going to make a presentation. But why Mr. Dean? Why was he present at this meeting and so many others, too? Mr. MAGRUDER. Well, I , he had ad worked for Mr. Mitchell before. He was one of the people at the White House who worked -very closely with us. He had brought Mr. Liddy to the committee. I cannot specifically recall why he was asked to come to that meeting, I would assume, I just assumed that he should be there because it was part of his--I want to be careful, not his responsibility. but part Of his area, of concern, and we had had other people attend meetings of this kind when they were concerned with a specific subject. And he had brought Mr. Liddy to me and indicated that he should prepare this plan. Senator GURNEY. Then he was included because he knew about Mr. Liddy's role, to be played in the Intelligence operation? Mr. MAGRUDER. Yes, sir. Senator GURNEY. Of course, there, were, several rather bizarre activities discussed at, that meeting and as I understand it, you did tell Mr. Strachan all about the meeting and what Mr. Liddy proposed, including this business of the kidnapping and the call girls, is that right? Mr. MAGRUDER. I want to be careful, On the first meeting, Senator, I don't recall whether he included these blank sheets of paper With the, documentation from the, chart. If he had, I would. have, sent those automatically over to Mr. Strachan. If he did not, an and I have a feeling he did not on the first, meeting, I would have simply discussed the meeting with Mr. Strachan on the, phone and probably would have not gone Into the detail that, I am talking about. In fact. I forget many of the Other things On those charts. There was much more. The plan was much more comprehensive than I have indicated to you. I mean there, were just, other things. I Just, can't recall what they -were. These were, many of them, he used Many of what I called buzz words and things that I did not particularly understand, and I don't, think Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Dean understood them. senator GURNEY. But what I am saying is as far as the principal points of the plan are concerned, You reported those to Mr. Strachan? Mr. MAGRUDER. Yes; the. general parameters of the plan. yes. sir. Senator GURNEY. And you have a vivid recollection today about the kidnapping and the call girls? Mr. MAGRUDER. Yes, sir. Senator GURNEY. As I think anyone of us would. Well, now, this is why I am bringing this up again. Was there ever any reaction from Mr. Strachan after presumably he, made his report? No one really knows whether he did or not, but presumably, he reported this to Mr. Haldeman. Did he ever get back to you? Mr. MAGRUDER. Yes. Senator GURNEY. Was there any reaction? Mr. MAGRUDER. My indication from Mr. Strachan was that whatever decision Mr. Mitchell made was acceptable to the White House on this matter. Senator GURNEY. And that, was the message that Mr. Strachan brought back to you? Mr. MAGRUDER. That was the context of' the message, and I don't want to say it was after the first meeting or the. second meeting, but that was the context, Because Of the sensitivity Of this project, I Personally felt that we. should be sure that they were aware of the Seriousness Of that project. Senator GURNEY. Well, now, in this context of the, report, who did he, mention if ,it all, that he was. reporting for? Mr. MAGRUDER. Well, he only reported to Mr. Haldeman, Senator. Senator GURNEY. And you assumed, of course, that he was reporting for Mr. Haldeman? Mr. MAGRUDER. In that, context, Sir; yes, Senator GURNEY. You mentioned that--and one of the missions of this committee is to look into all of the Irregularities in the 1972 Presidential campaign, Republican and Democratic. There is mention in your witness sheets, and you mentioned this morning too, that one of the, reasons why you thought that you ought to find out, more about What was going on the. Democrat side, was because, of this kickback situation at the Democratic Convention, but you never elaborate on it. Now, where did you learn about this and what did you learn about it.? Mr. MAGRUDER. A newsman called me early in the year and said there was something of interest, that, we should look into and indicated that along with the Democratic Convention at the Fontainbleau Hotel, there would be a business exposition at the Fontainbleau, And he said, this business exposition is a setup deal. The Democratic committee officials are going to do business with the, exposition people, and requesting that the business take, space at this exposition . The business would take the space. and pay--let's take a figure of, say, $10,000--of which $5,000 would go to the business exposition company that was putting On the exposition, and the company would get a booth, but the other $5,000 would be get kicked back to the Democratic Party to assist itself in its debts. I later received from this same newsman detailed brochures by this business exposition company on that subject. We asked Mr. Liddy at first to take a look at the situation and he went down to Miami and, through some manner, was able to record a telephone conversation between an individual who was his Informant, in effect. and a, member of the Democratic National Committee. That telephone conversation further indicated that, yes; there was this kickback situation. Because of the phone message and because of this information We had received we thought it was, could be an appropriate situation to investigate further. [00.19.04]