Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 29, 1973 (1/2
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 29, 1973 (1/2
[00.17.49-MONTOYA questions DEAN about the strategy of the White House for dealing with Congressional investigations] Senator MONTOYA. And that was about the time that he was making this statement to the press? Mr. DEAN. Well, that preceded--that is correct. Of course, it was September 15 that that arose in his office directly and we are talking about a press conference in August, and during the following weeks, of course, there, was an ever increasing effort of the White House, to deal with the Patman committee hearings as I have so testified. Senator MONTOYA. When did the President tell you this? Was it before August 29 -when he made the statement at the' press conference or after? Mr. DEAN. It was after, September 15. Senator MONTOYA. It was approximately 17 days later. Mr. DEAN. That is correct. Senator MONTOYA. 17 or 13 days. In the, same. and as he "went, along, the, President said as follows: The other point that I should make is that these investigations, the investigation by the GAO, the investigation by the FBI, by the Department of Justice have at my direction had the total cooperation of the--not only the White House but also of all agencies of the government. [00.19.01-MONTOYA raises the alleged "DEAN REPORT", which DEAN claims never to have made] Senator MONTOYA. I want you to pay special attention to this. This is quoting the President still. In addition to that, within our staff under my direction Counsel to the President, Mr. Dean, has conducted a complete investigation of all leads which might involve any present members of the White House staff or anybody in the Government. I can say categorically that his investigation indicates that no one in the White House staff, no one in this Administration presently employed was involved in this bizarre incident. [00.19.45-COMMON SENSE!] Senator MONTOYA. Now, I ask you this question: With respect to any project that you handled directly for the, President where a report was required, wouldn't you assume that if this Is true, that you would have been required to file a report? Mr. DEAN. Yes sir. Senator MONTOYA. And also if, assuming that this was true, wouldn't that report be available at the White House? Mr. DEAN. That is correct. [00.20.23-IF DEAN made a REPORT of his INVESTIGATION, why is there no such report available?] Senator MONTOYA. And so assuming the, correctness of the President's statement then it necessarily follows that If you made a complete investigation at his behest, and for him, that the President should produce that Dean report? Mr. DEAN. I already believe that. the White House has indicated there was no Dean investigation. I think that is one of the inoperative statements [Laughter.] Senator MONTOYA. But it is still your testimony that you were not requested by the President to make a report to him or to conduct this investigation. Mr. DEAN. Not at that time, Senator; that is correct. Senator MONTOYA. All right. [00.21.20] I want to go into this a little further the matter of the San Clemente conferences. Now, did you discuss specifically with Mr. Haldeman, with Ehrlichman and others Who might have been attending their matters directly dealing with the so-called coverup? Mr. DEAN. Yes we did. Senator MONTOYA. NOW Will you as succinctly as possible, as briefly as possible, relate for the record now just exactly what those discussions were with respect to the coverup? Mr. DEAN. Well, we had a lengthy discussion ranging over 2 days, and I have, estimated between 12, 14-10, 12, 14 hours--I do not know how many hours totally were spent in a discussion, that, basically were on how to deal with this committee. At the end of that discussion on the, last day of the discussion on Sunday afternoon, what I described as the bottom line question came up, because everything depended upon the continued silence of the, seven individuals who had either been convicted or had pleaded guilty. Would they remain silent during the duration of these hearings? I was asked that question. I said, I cannot answer that question, because I do not know. All I know, is that they are still making money demands. [00.23.03]