Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973
DO NOT USE McNeill states that this is the end of the longest day of the hearings thus far, and that the committee will no doubt spend many more hours questioning John Dean. All the leaked bombshells about Nixon s involvement in the coverup were addressed, as expected, by Dean. Also, some sidelines that may be lost for a while as the Committee concentrates on White House involvement, including the charge that the judge of the DNC civil case against the Committee to Re-Elect agreed to cooperate with the White House, a charge denied by that judge. Dean testified that White House OUSE staff hotshots were spared the publicity of appearing directly before the Grand Jury, how other witnesses (Segretti) were treated with kid gloves by the prosecutors, but forced to answer questions asked by curious grand jurors. Also recollections of how the White House attempted to influence the Ervin Committee including Senator Baker.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973
Press reporters question Senator. Senator Howard Baker (R Tennessee). Of course there are two parts to that. The White House s perception on that. And then Mr. Dean s account of the conversation that actually transpired. I think that by and large Mr. Dean s recollection of that account is essentially correct in all its material details. The account of Mr. Wally Johnson of the White House staff calling me when I was in Tennessee and asking if the White House could have a say-so in the selection of minority counsel, I told them they could not. That accords with my understanding. Mr. Dean s recollection of my brief meeting with the President shortly before a reception that I was attending, at which time I recommended the President against the claim of executive privilege is essentially correct. I do not recall the President indicating that he would rely instead only on written interrogatories, but that isn t a major point. But beyond that, I think that Mr. Dean has pretty generally stated the situation as I recall it.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973
Reporter. Let me read a memo from HR Haldeman to John Dean, or a portion of it. It was written February 9, 1973. He says, "Obviously the key on the Ervin Committee is the minority staff and more importantly, the minority counsel. We've got to be sure we get a real tiger, not an old man or a softhead. And although we let the Committee membership slip out of our grasp, we've got to find a way to be sure we get the best man we can for counsel." Does that pretty well jibe also with your recollection of their putting pressure on you to get a counsel? Senator Howard Baker (R Tennessee). No, they didn t put any pressure on it. It was a simple request by Wally Johnson on the telephone. He said that he wanted to come to Tennessee to talk to me about it. I said Wally that s not necessary; you don t need to come to Tennessee. He said, well can we have some input into the hiring of counsel. And I said, no. And obviously your memorandum goes much further than that, but I have an idea that ended the conversation as far as they were concerned. So that s the end of my personal knowledge. Reporter. Do you think they got a real tiger or an old man? Senator Howard Baker (R Tennessee). They got a bright young man who is formally in the US Attorney s Office in Nashville, who was a trial lawyer, who I knew personally and they never heard of. Evidence the fact that the President asked me that same day who is Fred Thompson. And I explained to him, he is a big, tall, tough Tennessean who's going to do a real good job.