24 This conclusion is corroborated by evidence subsequently received by the Committee. In a White House edited transcript released August 5, 1974, reporting a conversation between the President and Haldeman on June 23, 1972, the President discussed detailed plans for the arrival and activities of his wife and daughters at the Republican National Convention, the use of media during the campaign, proposed photo opportunities for Republican and certain Democratic candidates with the President, campaign appearances by his daughters and a list of key fundraisers and supporters for the President to telephone. (WHT, June 23, 1972, 10:04-11:39 a.m., 19-30) INTRODUCTION Before entering on the execution of his office as President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon has twice taken, as required in Article II, Section 1, Clause 7 of the Constitution, the following oath : I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Under the Constitution, the Executive power is vested in the President. In Article II, Section 3, the Constitution requires that the President "shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed." On June 17, 1972, and prior thereto, agents of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President committed unlawful entry into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. for the purpose of securing political intelligence. For more than two years, Richard M. Nixon continuously denied any personal or White House responsibility for the burglaries; he continuously denied any direction of or participation in a plan to cover and conceal the identities of those who authorized the burglaries and the existence and scope of other unlawful and covert activities committed in the President's interest and on his behalf. up In the course of his public statements, from June 22, 1972, until August 5, 1974, the President repeated these denials which are detailed as follows: On June 22, 1972, the President, in a news conference, said that his Press Secretary, Ronald Ziegler, had spoken "accurately" when Ziegler said, of the Watergate break-in, "The White House has no involvement whatever in this particular incident." On August 29, 1972, in a news conference, in responding to a question about the Watergate case, the President said: 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. In addition to that, within our own 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 very bizarre incident. .. Before Mr. Mitchell left as campaign chairman he had employed a very good law firm with investigatory experience to look into the matter. Mr. MacGregor has continued that investigation and is continuing it now. I will say in that respect that anyone on the campaign committee, Mr. MacGregor has assured me, who does not cooperate with the investigation or anyone against whom charges are leveled where there is a prima facie case that those charges might indicate involvement will be discharged immediately. That, of course, will be true also of anybody in the Government. I think under these circumstances we are doing everything we can to take this incident and to investigate it and not to cover it up. . . . We have cooperated completely. We have indicated that we want all the facts brought out... ୮ (27) 28 On March 2, 1973, in a news conference, the President said: I will simply say with regard to the Watergate case what I have said previously, that the investigation conducted by Mr. Dean, the White House Counsel, in which, incidentally, he had access to the FBI records on this particular matter because I directed him to conduct this investigation, indicates that no one on the White House Staff, at the time he conducted the investigation-that was last July and August-was involved or had knowledge of the Watergate matter. On March 12, 1973, the President, in a statement on executive privilege, said: Thus, executive privilege will not be invoked until the compelling need for its exercise has been clearly demonstrated and the request has been approved first by the Attorney General and then by the President. On March 15, 1973, the President, in a news conference, said: We will cooperate; we will cooperate fully with the Senate, just as we did with the grand jury, as we did with the FBI, and as we did with the courts when they were conducting their investigations previously in what was called the Watergate matter. On April 17, 1973, the President, in a press briefing, said: On March 21, [1973], as a result of serious charges which came to my attention, some of which were publicly reported, I began intensive new inquiries into this whole matter. As I have said before and I have said throughout the entire matter, all Government employees and especially White House Staff employees are expected fully to cooperate in this matter. I condemn any attempts to cover up in this case, no matter who is involved. On April 30, 1973, the President, in an address to the nation, said that as soon as he learned about the June 17, 1972, break-in: I immediately ordered an investigation by appropriate Government authorities.. As the investigations went forward, I repeatedly asked those conducting the investigation whether there was any reason to believe that members of my Administration were in any way involved. I received repeated assurances that there were not. Because of these continuing reassurances, because I believed the reports I was getting, because I had faith in the persons from whom I was getting them, I discounted the stories in the press that appeared to implicate members of my Administration or other officials of the campaign committee. Until March of this year, I remained convinced that the denials were true and that the charges of involvement by members of the White House Staff were false. The comments I made during this period, and the comments made by my Press Secretary in my behalf, were based on the information provided to us at that time we made those comments. However, new information then came to me which persuaded me that there was a real possibility that some of these charges were true, and suggesting further that there had been an effort to conceal the facts both from the public, from you, and from me . . . The President continued: I was determined that we should get to the bottom of the matter and that the truth should be fully brought out-no matter who was involved. As the new Attorney General, I have today named Elliott Richardson . . . I have given him absolute authority to make all decisions bearing upon the prosecution of the Watergate case and related matters. . . We must maintain the integrity of the White House... There can be no whitewash at the White House. On May 9, 1973, the President, in remarks at a Republican fundraising dinner, said: In the American political process, one of the most difficult tasks of all comes when charges are made against high officials in an Administration. That is a very great test of an Administration, and many times, in the history of our coun |