Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 26, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 26, 1973
[00.34.32] Senator MONTOYA. And in view of that, is it your Supposition that there was no way that Mr. Haldeman or Mr. Ehrlichman could plead ignorance Of any part Of the involvement on the part of the CRP, Mr. Liddy, or any other personnel connected with the CRP in the planning before the Watergate incident on the burglary at the Watergate? Mr. DEAN. Well, I would have to Separate out for a moment Mr. Haldeman from Mr. Ehrlichman. Mr. Strachan reported directly to Mr. Haldeman. He did not report to 'Mr. Ehrlichman. Anything that Mr. Ehrlichman would know about this would have to have come from conversations with -Mr. Haldeman. So I would only, I can only, say that under the report arrangement that information that did Come from Mr. Strachan, knowing Strachan as being very thorough, particularly in information I reported to him always seemed to get to Mr. Haldeman that any major information that Came 'to him was reported. But I can only say that if Mr. Haldeman and Mr. Ehrlichman had conversations about it, Mr. Ehrlichman would know about this. Senator MONTOYA. They were very close, weren't they? Mr. DEAN. They were good friends; yes, sir . Senator MONTOYA. Would you say they conversed very warmly, very frankly with each other? Mr. DEAN. Yes, Sir. Senator MONTOYA. Then, did you call Mr. Caulfield in January of 1972 When you authorized him to deliver a message to McCord, and did you ask him at the time to say To McCord, and I quote "'A year is a long time. Your wife and family will be taken care of. You will be rehabilitated with employment when this is over." Did you say that? Mr. DEAN. Yes, I did. That was the result of a conversation in Which I--he was on the West coast and I was in my office. I called him and transcribed the gist of what I was saying, read it back to me later, that is, virtually what it was that I said to him, and I told him "Fine,." and that is what he should report. Senator MONTOYA. NOW when you discussed the coverup With respect to Watergate, at Still Clemente, did these meetings take place at the home of the President? Mr. DEAN. No. sir. San Clemente is a general term for a situation where the President's residence is located at one place, and then right adjoining that there is a compound of office space. Senator MONTOYA. I mean the compound? Mr. DEAN. right. The first meeting took place, the morning meeting on the 10th, began in Mr. Ehrlichman's office. This was what I described as we were assessing the various members of this committee. It was from there we -went to lunch. We had lunch at the staff mess and 'we talked on. We then adjourned because nothing -was happening. It was a very loose and fleeting meeting. With generalities and there were interruptions because Mr. Haldeman had calls and Mr. Ehrlichman had calls. It wasn't until we went back down south to La Costa and met later at Mr. Haldeman's, and I think it was being shared by Mr. Ehrlichman, a large villa, a suite with rooms on each side, we met in the living room area and there we discussed for many hours the situation and we met there again the next day, and discussed this matter for many days or hours. Senator MONTOYA. Give me the dates of those meetings. Mr. DEAN. They were on the 10th and the 11th of February. Senator MONTOYA. And give me substantially the conversations that took place -with respect to the coverup, and the individuals to whom you might ascribe these conversations. Mr. DEAN. Well, the thrust of the conversations were after some general discussion there, evolved theories on how to deal with this committee, in other words, that there would be a public posture of cooperation and privately we would make it as difficult as possible to get investigative materials and witnesses. [00.39.20]