Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 26, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 26, 1973
[00.18.53-THOMPSON makes some effort to question DEAN'S motives] Mr. THOMPSON. What, you are saying is that you had no 'concern for your own welfare, but you just wanted to stay on to help out others? Mr. DEAN. Well, as I say, I found myself helping out others without--I was in the process before I began thinking about the process. Mr. THOMPSON. Why did you not tell the Federal prosecutors -when you first. made, contact with them?: I believe it was April 2 of this year when your attorney first made contact with the Federal prosecutors. I am still not quite sure in my own mind why you did not, evidently, relate, to them the nature of the, President's involvement or the fact that the President was involved to some extent. Mr. DEAN. Well, Of course, it -was not my presence at the meetings, so I am not aware of what was discussed. My lawyer and I did discuss it. We were aware of the fact that there, were attorney-client privilege problems, there was executive privilege, there were national security matters and I frankly was hopeful that at some point. when the President returned. I would have a chance to go in and tell the President this is the way I saw it: this is -what I have done, and ask him, based on that, expect him to come forward and explain his involvement the way I thought he -would. Mr. THOMPSON. When were, you terminated at the White House, Mr. Dean? Mr. DEAN. My resignation was requested and accepted on April 30. Mr. THOMPSON. Without your involvement? Mr. DEAN. Without my involvement. Mr. THOMPSON. So you had from April 2 to April 30 in which to do what you are talking 'about, meet the President and try to get him to step forward. Mr. DEAN. Let me get this straight. I am talking about the period from April 2 to April 15. there were no discussions with the President. From April 15 on. I began inferentially, because it was impossible to explain things, explaining the highlights of some of the things that involved the President without getting terribly specific with him. but giving him very broad ideas of some of the areas that were involved. Mr. THOMPSON. If you were interested in his coming forward. Why did you not tell him that you were talking to the prosecutors or that you had made some contact with the prosecutors? Mr. DEAN. Well. I met with him on the 21st. I met with him again on the 22d, called again on the 23d. I had given him what I thought was the most dramatic way I could tell him what the situation was. Nothing happened as a result of that. He then went to California. When he came back from California I noted that there was- well actually, when I came back from Camp David on the 28th before they went to California--he had been in Florida in the interim; there was a very changed attitude about me at that point in time. I -was getting signals from Haldeman in my meetings with him. He directed me to come down, really from Camp David. He said, you just, cannot hole up there. I said I do not want to talk to -Mitchell. He said, I think you have to come down and talk to Mitchell. It was very clear to me Mr. Haldeman wanted me. to come down and talk to Mitchell and -Magruder. I saw a very different Bob Haldeman than I had dealt with over the last year. That was clear to me that there was a new concern and I had become a concern. It was for that. reason that I did not turn over the report I had written at Camp David. The whole atmosphere changed after--really, after I had gone to Camp David. Probably the greatest change occurred in the meeting on the afternoon of the 21st or the 22d, when Ehrlichman, Haldeman and I met with the President, and I said in front of the President for the first time ever that I thought I had kept this agreement, everything was being said, because I said, Ehrlichman Haldeman, and Dean are all indictable. Mr. THOMPSON. Let us consider what your motivations would be at that time. You mentioned first of all the attorney-client privilege, in which, of course. I assume you are talking about conversations that you would have had with the President. Mr. DEAN. That is correct. Mr. THOMPSON. But there is an abundance of information that you could have given which would not have involved attorney-client privilege based on what you told us. Mr. DEAN. As I say, we were researching it at the, time and we concluded that there was no attorney-client privilege. Mr. THOMPSON. I am talking about what Ehrlichman told you. According to your testimony, Ehrlichman told you that- the President had approved Executive clemency for Hunt to try to his mouth shut. You talked to Colson telling you that the President approved Executive clemency for Hunt to remain quiet. You have testified that Krogh told you that he got his instructions for the Ellsberg psychiatrist's break-in from the oval office. None of those. things involved communications with the President It could not have possibly involve the attorney-client privilege, could it? Mr. DEAN. They could not involve the attorney--client privilege. none of them involved conversations I had directly with the President, yes. Some of them did not. As I say, there was also the- executive privilege question, there were national security questions. We had resolved that in fact, these did not apply. [00.24.33]