Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 14, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 14, 1973
[00.53.24] Senator MONTOYA. Did you approve the disbursements of any funds to Mr. LaRue or anyone for use by these defendants? Mr. MAGRUDER. No, I had no knowledge of the funds until the newspapers accounts. Mr. LaRue did ask me on one occasion and probably in January if I know somebody who could make a drop for him. and I suggested Mr. Porter as a potential person to do that and the next day he said, "No, never mind. Ave don't need anybody to make the drop." Senator MONTOYA. Who was offering the defendants Executive clemency? Mr. MAGRUDER. I do not know sir, Senator. Senator MONTOYA. Well. did any Information come to you about that time, as to whether or not, Executive clemency had been promised to any of these defendants? Mr. MAGRUDER. Well. as I have indicated before in my--before I testified before the grand jury the second time I was particularly concerned about, my own situation since I -was the target for the, grand jury and so I asked the individuals, Mr. Dean and Mr. Mitchell specifically would I be protected and, are the defendants being protected and they indicated to me that they were. The words "Executive clemency" were used but I can say honestly that the words "Executive clemency" were bandied about quite freely at that that time. Senator MONTOYA. When was the first time that, you talked to Mr. Haldeman about the Watergate? Mr. MAGRUDER. was the Sunday after the break-in. Senator MONTOYA. How many other times did you talk to him about this from then until January? Mr. 'MAGRUDER. I didn't--oh, well, I might have, I think we had a number of meetings during the campaign when we discussed how we would handle the Watergate as a public relations issue. Mr. MacGregor who was then our campaign director, was having a very difficult time at his press conferences and so on with this issue and 'I can remember a number of conversations that I had with Mr. Haldeman. Senator MONTOYA. Did you have these conversation-, at the White House? Mr. MAGRUDER. I had some of them at, the White House; yes, sir. Senator MONTOYA. Were any other persons present during these conversations? Mr. MAGRUDER. Individuals like Mr. Dwight Chapin, Mr. Richard Moore, other people who worked in what I would call the general public relations area but we were talking only about how these should be handled from our committee, and there was some--and with Mr. Ziegler and Mr. Warren as to how to handle press inquiries, At this time many of the newspapers were very active in pressing this issue and we were trying to respond to the problem. Senator MONTOYA. Well. if you were talking about the Watergate this is context and with that objective in mind, it, necessarily follows that you had to lay all the sordid details on top of the table so that you could reach a consensus of approach, Wouldn't that be right? Mr. MAGRUDER. No, sir; in fact I think I listened to Clark MacGregor as an example and Clark yesterday said that he evidently was told a story and that at is absolutely correct. We told Mr. MacGregor there was no involvement by any individual other than Mr. Liddy. We told that story to every individual who was not, connected directly with either the break-in or the coverup, and Mr. MacGregor believed 'It. I think, fully. I think other people in the White House believed it fully , the prosecutors believed it fully. [00.56.47] Senator MONTOYA. How can they believe that Mr. Liddy would the only one involved when they had also sent to You Mr. Hunt to work under Mr. Liddy? Mr. MAGRUDER. NOW. you have to remember that the, only person that I know of who sent Mr. Hunt to work for Mr. Liddy was Mr. Howard who -worked for Mr. Colson so that someone like Clark MacGregor would have no knowledge of Mr. Hunt, either. I think Mr. MacGregor as an example was completely in the dark throughout the, entire campaign and probably today is glad that He was. [Laughter.] Senator MONTOYA. Now, how many times would you say you talked to him? You haven't answered that question. Mr. MAGRUDER. I am sorry, talked to-- Senator MONTOYA. To Mr. Haldeman about the Watergate. Mr. MAGRUDER. I talked I talked to him on the day after the break-in On Sunday, I talked to him in January--- now. about Hie true facts about the he Watergate only in January. We talked during, the campaign a number of times. not very often about the public relations aspects but not about how it happened, of how we were going to counteract the press activity that was occurring during, the campaign, quite a different story, and you did not have to he involved in the break-in to try to handle it. Senator MONTOYA. You mean you could handle it'. Publicitywise if you didn't know the details ? Mr. MAGRUDER. Yes , Sir. I know many people did handle it who did not know the details . [00.58.13]