Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 27, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 27, 1973
[00.02.00-NPACT letters on black screen-to committee room, Sen. INOUYE reading from the WHITE HOUSE memorandum blaming DEAN for the coverup and fiasco of Watergate, the audience laughing at many of the White House's pronouncements, DEAN responds very calmly, refers to his statement, that the White House's claims are inconceivable] [00.03.38-image of page bearing Senate Resolution 60, Robert MacNEILL v.o. reads resolution-title screen "SENATE HEARINGS ON CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES"-00.04.20-MacNEILL in studio] MacNEILL states that John DEAN, NIXON'S principal accuser, has weathered the third, the toughest and most dramatic, day of his testimony. After two days of silence, the White House issued, through Special Counsel Fred BUZHARDT, a memorandum that pinned the main blame for both WATERGATE and the COVERUP on DEAN. States that the committee treated the memo as a "cross-examination in absentia" by the President. MacNEILL states that a new version of the White House defense was revealed, in which it was claimed that Ehrlichman and Haldeman were innocent and "DEAN was the villain". MacNEILL states that before the White House memo was addressed, the bulk of the day was occupied by Sen. GURNEY'S attempts to defuse DEAN'S charges against the White House. Through all this, DEAN calmly stuck to his story. [00.05.18-LEHRER in studio] LEHRER states that it was also learned today that former CRP staffer Fred LaRUE declined an indictment and pled guilty to a count of OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE. States that there were previously at least four charges against LaRUE, making it obvious that LaRUE struck a deal with the government to reduce his liability in exchange for testimony. States that LaRUE managed the 1972 campaign in the South, pleaded guilty to Judge SIRICA, who said that LaRUE would not be sentenced until all of the pending cases are disposed of, which should be a further incentive for LaRUE to tell all he knows about the matter. States that this was the first act by the Federal prosecutors since Archibald Cox was named SPECIAL PROSECUTOR. [00.06.06-MacNEILL] MacNEILL states that one question raised in the ERVIN hearings has been "who is the enemy", which at first meant a feud between the White House and its opponents in the Senate, but today it appears that there is a factional battle in the White House, but the testimony today, [in reference to the Enemies List] harkens back to the time when the White House was all together in opposing anyone opposed to Richard NIXON. DEAN's testimony revealed that there was a bureaucratic process of nominating and selecting the official "enemies" of the White House, to make a "top Twenty" deserving of special attention. States that reporter Peter KAYE was at the hearings when the lists of "enemies" were introduced. [00.06.48]