Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
The meetings on March 14th. The meetings which occurred on this day principally involved preparing the President for a forthcoming press conference. I recall talking about executive privilege and making Dean a test case in the courts on executive privilege. The President said that he would like very much to do this and if the opportunity came, up in the press conference he would probably so respond. I also recall that during the, meetings which occurred on this day, that the President was going to try to find an answer that would get Ziegler off the hook of the frequent questions asked him regarding the Watergate. He said that he was going to say that he would take no further questions on the Watergate until the completion of the Ervin hearings and that Ziegler in turn could repeat the same statement and avoid future interrogation by the press on the subject.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
Meeting on March 15th. It was late in the afternoon after the President's press conference that he asked Dick Moore and I to come over to visit with him. He was in a very relaxed mood and entered into a general discussion about press conference. The President was amazed and distressed that the press had paid so little attention to the fact that he had made an historic announcement about Ambassador Bruce opening up the liaison office in Peking. He said he was amazed when the first question following that announcement was regarding whether or not Dean would appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee in connection with the Gray hearings. The conversation then rambled into a discussion the Hiss case, and Mr. Moore discussed his memory of the President's handling of the case.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
Meeting on March 16th. This meeting was a discussion with Ziegler on how to follow up on number of matters that had arisen in the press conference of the preceding day.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
Meeting on March 17th. This was St. Patrick's Day and the President was in a very good mood and very relaxed and we engaged in a rambling conversation with only some brief reference to the Gray hearings and the problems that were then confronting the White House regarding the President's statements on executive privilege and his willingness to go to court on the matter. He opined that, he did not think that the Senate would be dumb enough to go for the bait he had given them but he was hopeful that they might.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
Meeting on March 19th. As I best recall this meeting, it was a rather rambling discussion regarding media problems in connection with the Gray hearings. As the discussion proceeded, I suggested that Mr. Moore might like to engage in this conversation with us. There was some discussion of Senator Ervin's appearance the preceding Sunday on "Face the Nation" and whether or not it would be appropriate for me to respond to some of the points that were being made regarding my requested appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I told the President that I would work with Dick Moore in preparing a draft response.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
Meeting on March 20th. The President had called me earlier that morning to tell me that I should work up a draft letter of response as a result of the discussions that we had had the preceding evening with Moore. I told him I was drafting a letter and he told me as soon as I had the letter prepared that I should arrange to meet with him. Shortly after lunch, I took over a draft copy of the letter which I had developed with Mr. Moore. And I have submitted a copy of that draft letter to the committee. The President read the draft and we discussed it. There was no resolution of the problem. He told me to talk with Ziegler. I told him that if I did this as a sworn statement that I was going to obviously redraft it very carefully before I signed any affidavit on the letter.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
It was during the, afternoon of March 20 that I talked again with Dick Moore about the entire coverup. I told Moore that, there, were new and more threatening demands for support money. I told him that Hunt had sent a message to me through Paul O'Brien that he wanted $72,000 for living expenses and $50,000 for attorney's fees and if he did not receive it that week, he would reconsider his options and have a lot to say about the seamy things he had done for Ehrlichman while at the White House. I told Moore that I had about reached the end of the line and was now in a position to deal with the President to end the coverup. I did not discuss with Moore the fact that I had discussed money and clemency with the President earlier but I told him that I really didn't think the President understood all of the facts involved in the Watergate and particularly the implications of those facts. I told him that the matter was continually compounding itself and I felt, that I had to lay the facts out for the President as well as the implication of those facts. Moore encouraged me to do so.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Statement of John Dean.
Phone conversation on the President on March 20th. When the President called me and we had a rather rambling discussion. I told him at the conclusion of the conversation that evening that I wanted to talk with him as soon as possible about the Watergate matter because I did not think that he fully realized all the facts and the implication of those facts for people at the White House as well as himself. He said that I should meet with him the next morning about 10 o'clock. Before going in to tell the President some of these things, I decided I should call Haldeman because I know that his name would come up in the matter. I called Haldeman and told him what I was going to do and Haldeman agreed that I should proceed to so inform the President of the situation.