Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 29, 1973 (1/2)
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 29, 1973 (1/2)
[00.30.17-Sen. INOUYE continues to question DEAN about the case of a fired AIR FORCE man who may have incurred the bad will of the WHITE HOUSE] Senator INOUYE. Did the President ever tell you why he was interested in the Fitzgerald case? Mr. DEAN. No; he merely said, he merely said that he, did not want Mr. Mollenhoff to keep reraising it at every press conference so would I work with him. Senator INOUYE. Do you know if Mr. Haldeman or Mr. Ehrlichman were interested? [00.30.37] Mr. DEAN. There is a rather extensive file in the White, House on Mr. Fitzgerald that was retrieved at one point by a member of my staff who was bringing the material in so I could at least read it all. There were the hearings and a book that Mr. Fitzgerald had written, and then there was correspondence and the like. I never got the opportunity to read those materials to make an assessment. Based on my conversations with Mr. Wilson of my staff I thought Mr. Mollenhoff frankly had a very good point and I thought it was something that frankly should be, looked into, and I thought there might have been errors that should be corrected. Senator INOUYE. You have indicated that this case -was assigned to someone on your staff. Mr. DEAN. That is correct. Senator INOUYE. Who is this person? Mr. DEAN. Mr. David Wilson. Senator INOUYE. Is he, still in the, office of the White House counsel? Mr. DEAN-. No, he has now gone, I believe to the Cost of Living Council. Senator INOUYE. Mr. Chairman--- [00.31.41] Mr. DEAN. His departure, is totally unrelated to the Watergate. He went over there because he was looking for another job, he had grown in the Job he was in, there was a general staff reduction at the White House, I was also to tailor some of my staff, and it was an excellent opportunity for him. He, is a very bright, capable young lawyer and he is still there and I am sure, he may still have some familiarity, Or if he were to reexamine, the records he might be able to be of some assistance to the Senator, on this matter. Senator INOUYE. Mr. Chairman, if Mr. Fitzgerald's reputation has been unjustly injured, and if this committee can in any way assist Mr. Fitzgerald in regaining his reputation- [00.32.28] Senator ERVIN. Senator, I do not believe this matter falls within the jurisdiction of this committee under the resolution I think is alien to what we are authorized to investigate. Senator INOUYE. I brought this up because we were discussing all day the, matter of friends and enemies and I presume this man was on the enemy list. Senator ERVIN. I do not know, but we I do not, believe are authorized to investigate Mr. Fitzgerald's case here. Senator INOUYE. I thought it might be. well to invite Mr. Wilson to help clear Mr. Fitzgerald. Otherwise, once again, thank you very much. [00.33.08] Mr. DEAN. I would merely offer this to the Senator. I think- that if Mr. Mollenhoff reraises it at one or two more press conferences it may be given attention again. [Laughter], Senator INOUYE. Thank you very much. sir. Senator ERVIN. Senator Gurney. do YOU have any further questions? [00.33.29] Senator GURNEY. Just one. Mr. Chairman, to clarify the record. In the, morning session, Mr. Dean. in Mr. Inouye's, Senator Inouye's questioning on pressure being brought to bear on any of the members of the committee, you did mention that you had had prior dealings with the, chairman, with Senator Gurney, and with Senator Weicker. Now, this came up in a context of pressure being brought to bear on members of the committee and also--- [00.34.00] Mr. DEAN. No, sir; as my recollection of the question was when we were assessing members of my the committee who I was familiar with on the committee, and the only people, that I knew by reputation or any personal dealings on the committee were you from your years in the House, Senator Weicker from my knowledge of him in the House, and that was about the extent of my knowledge. [00.34.30] Senator GURNEY. Well, I realize that but it did come up in context, this questioning about pressure on the committee of digging up dirt and I thought we ought to clarify what the prior dealings were. None of these prior dealings with the chairman Senator Ervin, or myself or Senator Weicker had anything to do with Watergate did it?' Mr. DEAN. No, sir. Senator GURNEY. My recollection of my own personal contacts with you is only one. although yours are two. One occurred in Senator Hruska's office during the Kleindienst confirmation hearings when you got with the Republican Senators, and I was among those, on the Judiciary Committee, and discussed the pending request to have Peter Flanigan, a White House counsel, I guess, his job is to testify before the committee in response to a request by our chairman, Senator Ervin on the committee. That was one of the occasions, and I recall that we, Suggested with our advice that the, White House had better send him up, this was a matter of executive privilege, otherwise he would not be confirmed. Is that your recollection of our meeting? [00.35.42]