Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 26, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 26, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 26, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 26, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean.
Senator Sam Ervin (D North Carolina). Senator, you may proceed with the interrogation. Senator Joseph Montoya (D New Mexico). Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Dean, now I ask you about the press conference of October 5, 1972, held by the President and I quote from his press conference as follows, Incidentally, I conducted the investigation of the Hiss case. I know that is very unpopular subject to raise in some quarters, but I conducted it. It was successful. The FBI did a magnificent job, but that investigation involving the security of this country was basically a Sunday school exercise compared to the amount of effort that was put into this, meaning the Watergate. I agreed with the amount of effort that was put into it. I wanted every lead carried out to the end, because I wanted to be sure that no member of the White House staff, and no man or woman in a position of management responsibility in the Committee for Re-Election had anything to do with this kind of reprehensible activity. Now, would you say that the President was correct in making those statements at that time? John Dean. I can say this, Senator. I certainly did not brief him or prepare anything for the briefing book that would have led him to make that statement. And I can also say, once the indictments were handed down, it became what I would have to call the PR technique of the White House to say that well, everybody in the White House is clean. And this was repeated by Mr. Ziegler and in turn used by the President. Senator Joseph Montoya (D New Mexico). Well, would you agree with his appraisal that his job in the Hiss case was a Sunday school exercise compared with this effort? John Dean. Well, I am not that familiar with his effort. It s true that the FBI investigation was extensive but it obviously was not complete.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 26, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean.
Senator Joseph Montoya (D New Mexico). Now, on March 2, 1973, the President made another statement, I will simply say with regard to the Watergate case what I have said previously, that the investigation by Mr. Dean, the White House counsel, in which incidentally, he had access to the FBI records on this particular matter because I directed him to conduct this investigation, indicates that no one in the White House staff at the time he conducted the investigation, that was last July and August, was involved or had knowledge of the Watergate matter. Now, is that a correct statement? John Dean. As I testified yesterday, that came up, I believe, in my meeting preceding his press conference. He said that that was March 17, the date on that? Senator Joseph Montoya (D New Mexico). March 2, 1973. John Dean. March 2, correct. On March the 1st, when I met with him, he was very annoyed at the fact that Gray was making comments about Dean sitting in on the FBI investigations and things of this nature were coming up. It was his assessment that there was nothing wrong with this. He told me that. These were thoughts that he himself had raised and as I testified yesterday, told him I do not feel or I did not feel at the time that he was raising this that I could tell him that he couldn t use my name further for the so-called Dean report. I was quite aware of the fact that he must be aware of the fact that I had not conducted such an investigation for him because he had never received a report from me on it.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 26, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean.
Senator Joseph Montoya (D New Mexico). All right. Now, on April 17, 1973, the President said this, "I condemn any attempts to cover up in this case, no matter who is involved." Do you believe he was telling the truth on that date? John Dean. No, sir. Senator Joseph Montoya (D New Mexico). Will you state why? John Dean. Well, because by that time he knew the full implications of the case and Mr. Haldeman and Mr. Ehrlichman were certainly still on the staff at that point in time. And there was considerable resistance to their departure from the staff. I had told the President that I would not leave the staff unless they resigned. Yet it was not until the 30th that those resignations occurred.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 26, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean.
Senator Joseph Montoya (D New Mexico). Now on April 30 he made this statement, "We must maintain the integrity of the White House and that integrity must be real, not transparent. There can be no whitewash at the White House." Is that a correct statement? John Dean. Well, I would like to make this comment regarding the April 30th speech. As I testified yesterday, after I issued my statement that I would not be a scapegoat. I had virtually no contact with members of the staff. However, I did have occasion to talk to Len Garment. And when the President went off to Camp David to prepare his major address which is the one you are referring to, I told Mr. Garment, I said, "I have no way to get this message through to the President at this point in time. However, I would ask you one thing, Len." I said, "Would you please tell the President in your own words, do not give a cosmetic speech. And I asked him to do what he could to get the President to lay out the facts as the President could have laid them out at that time. Senator Joseph Montoya (D New Mexico). Do you know whether he followed through on that? John Dean. He did not follow through on that.