Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 27, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 27, 1973
[00.40.06-GURNEY continues questioning DEAN. Focuses on the existence of cash funds, and DEAN'S use of the funds] Senator GURNEY. Let us go to the $350,000 fund that came into the White House. My recollection is that Mr. Strachan picked up that amount of money from over at the Committee To Re-Elect the President When did that occur? Mr. DEAN. When did Mr. Strachan pick it up? Senator GURNEY. Yes. Mr. DEAN. To the best of my knowledge, and I was told this after the fact, in more detail, -was prior to April 7. The first time I was aware of the fact that he was receiving money before April 7 is when Mr. Strachan came to me and asked me if I could suggest the name of somebody outside of the Government that would have a, or could open a safety deposit box. I told him I could not, and did not know the amount of the money at that time. Senator GURNEY. Now, as I understand there was some money used out of the $350,000. Do you recall what that figure was? Mr. DEAN. Yes, I do. It was--I am trying to recall -when I first learned it, it was sometime, oh, within 2 or 3 or 4 weeks after the June 17 incident that I was told that, $22,000 had been expended out of that amount. And that, there had been that much taken out of apparently the. safety deposit box and that money, in turn, was to be used for advertisements or something of this nature. Senator GURNEY. Do you know what it actually was used for? Mr. DEAN. The $22,000? Senator GURNEY. Yes. Mr. DEAN. I know that the, $15,000---- I learned later that the $15,200 that was returned to me was a part of the $22,000 that had not been, that was returned to me was a part of the $22,000 that had not, been expended and I was told that the part that had been expended had been used for political ads. Senator GURNEY. So I guess $6,800, then- Mr. DEAN. $6,800--- Senator GURNEY [continuing]. Then would have been used? Mr. DEAN. Yes, correct. Senator GURNEY. Now, did you have, a conversation with Mr. Stans about restoring the $22,000 to this fund and making it whole again? Mr. DEAN. Yes, I did. Senator GURNEY. When did you have that conversation? Mr. DEAN. Well, there, were a number of conversations on this, Senator, that, commenced late July, August, September, because there was a desire to get the entire $350,000 back out of the White House. Simultaneous with these conversations, there was -also a desire to accumulate any cash that could be found to pay for the support and silence of the individuals who had been involved in the Watergate, I can recall on several occasions discussing this with Mr. Stans and Mr. Parkinson on how to deal with the $350,000. One, of the problems was where would it go that, it wouldn't be reported and if it were reported before the election, it, would appear to be a secret slush fund at the White House. Senator GURNEY. Well, did you discuss it after the election with Mr. Stans? Mr. DEAN-. Yes, I did. In fact, after the election, at one point, Mr. Stans advised me that he had the money to replenish the $350,000 fund and called me and told me. I tried to reach Mr. Strachan, was unable to reach Mr. Strachan. Mr. Stans, for a reason I do not recall now, told me there was some immediacy in the money being picked up. I in turn called Mr. Fielding and asked -Mr. Fielding if he would go and pick up a, package from Mr. Stans and give it to 'Mr. Strachan as soon as he could locate Mr. Strachan. Senator GURNEY. When -was that? Mr. DEAN. That was in--I believe it was November 28. [00.44.39-GURNEY implies some shady dealings on DEAN'S part with regard to the money that he held] Senator GURNEY. Well, now Mr. Dean, why did you ask Mr. Stans for $22,000 at this time, when you were holding $15,200 of this money in trust? Why didn't you simply ask him for $6,800 to make that $22,000? Mr. DEAN. Well, Senator, as I have indicated, from the very outset, there was a request for all the available cash. I was quite aware of the fact that I was holding cash. I had also made a decision that the cash that I was holding I didn't want to be used to pay for the support, for the silence of these individuals, and I was not going to become involved in that with actual cash that I was passing for that purpose. Senator GURNEY. But you were, requesting $22,000 from Mr. Stans just for that purpose, were you not? Mr. DEAN. No, I was as not. It -was to make the, fund whole and there was resistance at that point from the White House. [00.45.26]