Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 29, 1973 (2/2)
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 29, 1973 (2/2)
[01.21.26-BAKER questions DEAN about his conversations with NIXON at a point when the COVERUP was, according to DEAN'S warnings, in serious jeopardy of unraveling] Senator BAKER. But It was your--it is your recollection that the President conveyed to you the information that he knew of the McCord letter to the court? Mr. DEAN. Yes, and then he told me, he Said, "Well, John, your prediction was right." Senator BAKER. All right, sir, go ahead. Mr. DEAN. That did stick in my mind very clearly. It was after that we entered into a discussion about going to Camp David. He suggested I go up and relax. Senator BAKER. I thought you were at Camp David. Mr. DEAN. NO, Sir; I was at my home. Senator BAKER. I am sorry. Go ahead, sir. Thank you, [01.22.05] Mr. DEAN. I had been surrounded by the press that, morning as a result of the preceding day's comment by Mr. Gray. I have not, made myself carefully available to the press during any time in this matter and my house has been, I might say, staked out almost 24 hours a day by the press. [01.22.26-A FUNNY LINE OF QUESTIONING] Senator BAKER. Was this the time when a newspaper or television reporter tried to interview you through the mail slot? Mr. DEAN. NO; that was rather recently when I refused to open the, door and she kept pounding on the door and so I finally, opened up the mail slot and, to correct the record On that, I was not on all fours, I was merely on my, bending down [laughter]. Just to keep accuracy in the media' [laughter]. Senator BAKER. And just for the sake of chivalry. -we will not, say who that was. All right, Mr. Dean, go ahead please. [01.23.08-A young woman, presumably the reporter in question, is shown, laughs--DEAN discusses NIXON telling him to go to Camp David, which in hindsight appeared to be a ploy to get DEAN out of town so that HALDEMAN and EHRLICHMAN could plot to get DEAN to take the blame when the coverup unraveled] Mr. DEAN. We entered into a discussion about going to Camp David, and I told him Yes, that sounded good. because I told him that I was surrounded by the press and he again repeated what he had repeated to me earlier, that I had been under a lot, of press coverage as a result of this. [01.23.30-DEAN'S trip to CAMP DAVID was NOT intended as a chance for DEAN to issue a report on the coverup, to "get the facts out" to the public-the COVERUP was going to continue] But the, important thing, that you are interested in, he told me not to go to Camp David to write a report. Rather, he, told me to go up, relax for a couple of days, take my wife. He told me he does his best thinking at Camp David and that, -what I should do is go up and assess the entire situation and figure out where we go from here. I told him I would do that. I told him I would go up and think over the entire matter. Senator BAKER. This was on March 23? Mr. DEAN. That is correct. Now, when I arrived at Camp David on March 23, we had some incidental conversation about that as a result of the fact that some other of the First Family was up there. But I do not think that is relevant at all. I do not even think it is relevant to my testimony this point. [01.24.29-DEAN smells a setup] When I arrived at Camp David, the phone was ringing in the cabin that my -wife and I were staying in and the operator came on and said, it is the President calling. I waited and the President did not come on. Rather, Mr. Haldeman came on the phone. Mr. Haldeman said--we had a little further conversation, brief conversation about McCord's letter because I had not spoken with him during the day on the McCord letter. I had talked to Mr. Ehrlichman earlier that day about the McCord letter. I recall Mr. Haldeman saying that he had understood that McCord basically had hearsay and I said, that was my understanding. So I assumed from that that Mr. Haldeman had obviously talked to somebody also about the matter. [01.25.20-DEAN states that HALDEMAN wanted DEAN to write a report, but DEAN suspected that if he did, the report would be used by HALDEMAN and EHRLICHMAN to pin the blame for the coverup on DEAN] Then he said, while you are up there, -why don't you write up a report on this matter? And I asked him -was it for internal or external use? And he said that would be decided later. So I was very much in a quandary as to how to write what he wanted to write. But I had also, by the time I got to Camp David, had well evidenced to everybody I was dealing -with that I was thinking far differently about the continued coverup than I think others were. Senator BAKER. This was -a conversation with Mr. Haldeman? Mr. DEAN. That is correct. [01.25.56]