39

break-in. (Book I, 113; Colson testimony, 3 HJC 197-99, 205–06, 23637) During this meeting, Colson called Magruder, the CRP chief of staff, and told him to resolve whatever it was Hunt and Liddy wanted to do and to be sure he had an opportunity to listen to their plans. (Book I, 105; Colson testimony, 3 HJC 244-49) Magruder has testified that Colson told him to "get off the stick" and get Liddy's plans approved, and that information was needed, particularly about Democratic National Committee Chairman Lawrence O'Brien. (Book I, 113)

V

ADOPTION OF THE PLAN

On March 30, 1972, in Key Biscayne, Florida, the Liddy Plan was reviewed in a meeting among Mitchell, Magruder and Fred LaRue. (LaRue testimony, 1 HJC 180-83) They considered the proposal for electronic surveillance and, according to Magruder, approved its revised budget of either $250,000 or $300,000. (Book I, 116-20, 129, 148, 182) After the meeting, Magruder instructed his assistant, Robert Reisner, who was at CRP headquarters in Washington, to tell Liddy that his proposal had been approved. Reisner telephoned Liddy, who had become general counsel to the Finance Committee to Re-elect the President (FCRP), and conveyed Magruder's message that the plan had been approved and that Liddy was to get started in the next two weeks. (Book I, 49–50, 136-46)

In a Political Matters Memorandum dated March 31, 1972, Strachan told Haldeman that Magruder reported CRP now had a "sophisticated political intelligence gathering system including a budget of [$]300 [,000]." (Book I, 148, 150-53) A talking paper which Strachan had prepared for a meeting between Haldeman and Mitchell on April 4, 1972, included a question on the "adequacy of the political intelligence system." (Book I, 162-64)

Strachan has testified that three days after the June 17, 1972 Watergate break-in, Haldeman ordered him to destroy both the March 31, 1972 Political Matters Memorandum and the April 4, 1972 talking paper. (Book I, 165–66)

Although Liddy's involvement in the break-in was known by the President, Mitchell, and other high CRP and White House officials shortly after the break-in (WHT, June 23, 1972, 10:04-11:39 a.m., 6; Book II, 91, 93-97, 145-46), Liddy was not discharged as counsel to FCRP until eleven days afterward. (Book II, 478-82)

This, and evidence of cover-up activity after the break-in discussed in the following sections, along with the direct evidence regarding Haldeman's and Mitchell's planning activities prior to the break-in, support the conclusion that the Watergate break-in was pursuant to a program of unlawful electronic surveillance approved in advance by Mitchell, in which Haldeman concurred, and aimed at political opponents of the President for the political benefit of the President.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POLITICAL

INTELLIGENCE PLAN

The implementation of the plan to gather political intelligence for use in the President's re-election campaign began in April, 1972. (Book I, 172–75) Prior to June, 1972, with the approval of John Mitchell, FCRP Treasurer Hugh Sloan disbursed approximately $199,000 in cash to Liddy.1 (Book Ï, 178-79) Of this sum James McCord, CRP Security Director, spent approximately $65,000 on electronic monitoring equipment and for related purposes. (Book I, 190)

The first break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) occurred on or about May 27, 1972. (Book I, 216-17) During the first or second week in June, 1972, Deputy Campaign Director Magruder received transcripts, on paper labeled "Gemstone," of conversations intercepted at the DNC Headquarters. (Book I, 234-35) There is evidence that these transcripts were shown to Mitchell. (Book I, 235) Magruder's assistant, Robert Reisner, testified that Magruder once asked him to place a group of the Gemstone papers in the file labeled "Mr. Mitchell's file," the file used by Magruder in regular daily meetings with Mitchell. (Book I, 237-38) Magruder also received prints of documents photographed during the first entry into the DNC headquarters.2 (Book I, 234)

The White House received reports obtained from the break-in and bugging. Magruder forwarded the information to Strachan in Haldeman's office. (Book I, 165-66, 168-69)

In his March 13, 1973 meeting with Dean, the President described the Watergate operation as "a dry hole, huh?" Dean responded, "That's right." (HJCT 72) Later in the same conversation, Dean said he thought there were "some people who saw the fruits of it," but added that that was "another story." Dean was talking about the criminal conspiracy to enter the DNC offices. (HJCT 74)

After the burglars first broke into and bugged the DNC headquarters, they began getting information, which was in turn relayed to Haldeman's office. At one point Haldeman gave instructions to change their political surveillance capabilities from Muskie to McGovern; he sent the instructions to Liddy through Strachan. Liddy started to make arrangements for the electronic surveillance of the McGovern operation. In a conversation on the morning of March 21, 1973, John Dean reported to the President:

DEAN.

The information was coming over here to Strachan. Some of it was given to Haldeman, uh, there is no doubt about it. UhPRESIDENT. Did he know what it was coming from? DEAN. I don't really know if he would.

1 Sloan testified that when he asked Stans the purpose for which the money would be spent. Stans, who had discussed the matter with Mitchell, said, "I do not want to know and you don't want to know." (Book I. 179)

Shortly after the June 17, 1972 break-in, Reisner, at Magruder's direction, removed the Gemstone files and other politically compromising documents from the CRP files. These documents were delivered to Magruder who destroyed them. (Book I, 236, 239-40)

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PRESIDENT. Not necessarily.

DEAN. Not necessarily. That's not necessarily. Uh-
PRESIDENT. Strachan knew what it was from.

DEAN. Strachan knew what it was from. No doubt about it, and whether Strachan I have never come to press these people on these points because it, PRESIDENT. Yeah. DEAN. it hurts them to, to give up that next inch, so I had to piece things together. All right, so Strachan was aware of receiving information, reporting to Bob. At one point Bob even gave instructions to change their capabilities from Muskie to McGovern, and had passed this back through Strachan to Magruder and, apparently to Liddy. And Liddy was starting to make arrangements to go in and bug the, uh, uh, McGovern operation. They had done prelim— PRESIDENT. They had never bugged Muskie, though, did they?

DEAN. No, they hadn't but they had a, they had, uh, they'd

PRESIDENT. (Unintelligible)

DEAN. infiltrated it by a, a, they had

PRESIDENT. A secretary.'

DEAN. a secretary and a chauffeur. Nothing illegal about that. (HJCT 85)

On April 14, 1973, Haldeman told the President that Strachan, at some time, had stopped reading the DNC wiretap reports, which had been made available to him.

E The one copy that Magruder had had pictures of the kinds of papers that you'd find around with campaign headquarters. He sent a synopses of the pictures to Mitchell. He thought it was so bad he picked up the phone and called Liddy and chewed him out. He called 'em "(expletive deleted)” “I [Magruder] told Strachan that the synopses were here. He may have come over and read them." and as I [Ehrlichman] pressed him on that he got less and less sure of that. He says, "I [Magruder] told him they were there."

H Strachan says, "I stopped reading the synopses, and they were-we had 'em here." (WHT 586)

On April 14, 1973, the President asked Haldeman what he would say if Magruder testified that the DNC wiretap reports had come to Haldeman's office. Haldeman responded, "This doesn't ever have to come out." (WHT 520-21)

Thus the Liddy Plan was implemented under Mitchell's direction with Haldeman's concurrence to provide political intelligence information for the President's benefit in his re-election campaign.

In the edited White House transcript, it is Dean who first says "a secretary." (WHT 180)

PRESIDENT NIXON'S RESPONSE TO THE ARRESTS

I

INITIAL RESPONSE

At 2:00 a.m. on June 17, 1972, five of Liddy's men, including CRP Security Director McCord, made the second entry into the DNC offices. They were found there and arrested. (Book II, 72-74) They had on their persons fifteen $100 bills. In their hotel room police found additional $100 bills, a check drawn by Hunt, and a notebook that contained Hunt's White House telephone number. (Book II, 84-85) Hunt and Liddy were elsewhere, in the Watergate Hotel. Upon discovering the arrests of the others, they left. (Book II, 72–76) Hunt went to his office in the Executive Office Building (EOB), placed a briefcase containing electronic equipment in his safe and removed from the safe $10,000 in cash that Liddy had previously given to him to be used in case of need. Hunt gave the money that morning to Douglas Caddy, a Washington attorney. (Book II, 76–77)

At the time of the break-in, the President was in Key Biscayne with Haldeman and Presidential Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler. (Book II, 127)

John Mitchell, Robert Mardian, Jeb Magruder, and Fred LaRue, all top officials in CRP, were in Los Angeles working on the President's re-election campaign. On the morning of June 17, 1972, Liddy telephoned Magruder in California and asked him to call back on a secure phone. (Book II, 106) At the time, Magruder was eating breakfast with LaRue. Before going to a pay telephone to return Liddy's long distance call, Magruder remarked to LaRue, "I think last night is when they were going into the DNC." Magruder then called Liddy who informed him of the break-in and the arrests of the burglars, including McCord, the CRP Security Director. (LaRue testimony, 1 HJC 185) Magruder immediately relayed Liddy's report to LaRue, who informed Mitchell. (Book II, 106)

When LaRue told Mitchell that McCord, the CRP Security Director, was one of the five persons arrested, Mitchell asked LaRue to get more information. (Book II, 108) Mardian was ordered to return to Washington (LaRue testimony, 1 HJC 194) Mitchell's aides prepared a press release falsely stating that the arrested men had not been operating on behalf of or with the consent of CRP. (LaRue testimony, 1 HJC 188-90, 212-14) Mitchell made a decision to issue that press release that said:

We have just learned from news reports that a man identified as employed by our campaign committee was one of five persons arrested at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. early Saturday morning. The person involved is the proprietor of a private security agency who was employed by our Committee months ago to assist with the installation of our security system.

He has, as we understand it, a number of business clients and interests and we have no knowledge of those relationships.

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We want to emphasize that this man and the other people involved were not operating either in our behalf or with our consent.

I am surprised and dismayed at these reports.

At this time, we are experiencing our own security problems at the Committee for the Re-election of the President. Our problems are not as dramatic as the events of Saturday morning-but nonetheless of a serious nature to us. We do not know as of this moment whether our security problems are related to the events of Saturday morning at the Democratic headquarters or not.

There is no place in our campaign or in the electoral process for this type of activity and we will not permit nor condone it. (LaRue Exhibit No. 2, 1 HJC 212; Mitchell testimony, 2 HJC 150-51)

On June 17, 1972, Mitchell also directed Liddy to contact Attorney General Kleindienst. (LaRue testimony, 1 HJC 187) Liddy met with Kleindienst at the Burning Tree Country Club near Washington, D.C., and told him that some of the people arrested were White House or CRP employees. Liddy told Kleindienst that Mitchell wanted a report on the break-in. Kleindienst refused to discuss the matter and ordered Liddy off the premises. (Book II, 108, 111-12)

On the afternoon of June 17, the Secret Service contacted John Ehrlichman, who was in Washington, to inform him that the District of Columbia police had found the White House telephone number of Howard Hunt in the burglars' hotel room. (Book II, 118, 494) Ehrlichman knew of Hunt's participation in the burglary of Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and of other covert operations Hunt had performed for the White House. (Book VII, 728, 1220)1

Upon learning that evidence now linked Hunt with those arrested inside the DNC offices, Ehrlichman immediately called Colson, whom he knew to have been Hunt's sponsor at the White House. (Book II, 118; Book VII, 677) Colson, who had recommended Hunt for his White House position (Book VII, 676) knew of Hunt's previous covert activities undertaken with Ehrlichman's authorization: on September 9, 1971, shortly after a meeting with the President, Ehrlichman had told Colson of Hunt's and Liddy's break-in into Dr. Fielding's office and instructed him not to talk about the matter. (Colson testimony, 3 HJC 236) In March, 1972, Colson himself had instructed Hunt to interview Dita Beard in Denver, following publication of her memorandum about the settlement of ITT antitrust litigation. (Colson testimony. HJC 250-51)

On the afternoon of the Watergate break-in, Ehrlichman and Colson talked about how to handle records of Hunt's employment at the White House; and about Douglas Caddy, the lawyer Hunt had hired following the arrests. (Book II, 118-20; Colson testimony, 3 HJC 257–58)

In the late afternoon of June 17, 1972, the day of the Watergate break-in, Ehrlichman telephoned Ziegler in Key Biscayne and told him about the documents that linked Hunt to the Watergate burglars. (Book II, 118) It is not known what information Ziegler conveyed to the President. The next day, June 18, 1972, Ehrlichman

1 On July 7, 1971, when Hunt was first hired as a consultant to the the White House, Ehrlichman called the CIA and said:

"I want to alert you that an old acquaintance, Howard Hunt, has been asked by the President to do some special consultant work on security problems. He may be contacting you sometime in the future for some assistance. I wanted you to know that he was in fact doing some things for the President. He is a long-time acquaintance with the people here. He may want some help on computer runs and other things. You should consider he has pretty much carte blanche." (Book II, 467)