Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 27, 1974 (1/2)
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 27, 1974 (1/2)
[00.31.41] Mr. SANDMAN. But let us get back again to the most important thing of them all. Why are these' people resisting so hard to give us nine simple sentences? Why'? They do not have to give us great big volumes. They do not have to give us 150 pages that Mr'. Doar referred to. Just give us nine simple, sentences. The simple reason they will not--they do not have the proof, They have 40 books, but no witnesses. An unusual case, to say the least. Now, we can talk about this as long as we want, but I think we have talked long enough. I will yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from California , or Mississippi, I am so sorry, Mr. LOTT. Thank you, Mr. Sandman. Just a couple of points. First of all, with reference to this telephone conversation between the President and Pat Gray ray, the fact is Pat Gray did not initiate that -call. The President called Mr. Gray at approximately 8:25 a.m. .July 6. This all came about apparently through MacGregor and MacGregor did not meet with the President until 10 a.m. A lot has been said about what was said in that conversation. After Gray raised the question that the President's staff was trying to mortally wound the, President what did the President do? He paused perceptibly, and I think this is a natural--it shows logically that this was a matter of first impression and concern and he did not make any kind of comments about coverup. he told him, you just keep going right ahead with your thorough investigation, or some words to that effect. Now there, is no hard evidence that the President ever attempted to interfere with the course of the FBIs investigation. At no time did he, Haldeman or Ehrlichman state that the investigation should be halted--and I refer you to book 2, page 383. They merely expressed a, concern, -and a legitimate one, I think, at that time that the trail not lead to exposure of CIA or Plumbers' activities which would harm national interest. And this is important. Before and after that concern was expressed there was no knowledge or no involvement by the President in the future attempts to limit the investigation. There is no evidence that the, theory, this Watergate break-in was a CIA operation, was discussed before Gray told Dean the FBI was considering this possibility on June 22. Although Gray had checked with Helms before talking to Dean and received a tentative denial, it does not appear that he passed this information on to Dean. I refer you to book 2, page 339. Therefore there. is no evidence that the President was aware of CIA denial at the time he was informed of possible CIA involvement. Now, it is very difficult to argue to these specifies that we are being given, we hear them for the first time. here and there are replies to these, but we have to try to go and find the reply on the spur of the moment. It is important to differentiate, I think, between the President President's expressed concern and the subsequent actions taken by his assistants without his knowledge. Once again You must look at whether this the assistants, the aides, doing these, things, or the President. Mr. HOGAN. Will. the gentleman yield? Mr. LOTT. I think Mr. Wiggins---- The CHAIRMAN. There are 3 1/2 minutes remaining out of the 10 minutes. Mr. Wiggins is recognized Mr. WIGGINS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will try to be succinct. It is instructive to remember. ladies and gentlemen, that in the form of this article we are talking about Presidential misconduct, Presidential misconduct, and not misconduct of others unless it con be logically and appropriately tied to the President. I wish to speak rather rapidly to the matter of CIA. There. are two Presidential acts within the time frame of June 23 to July 6, and that is the time frame in which it is alleged there has been inference with the CIA. The first act begins when the President issued these instructions, as reported in our tab. The President Instructed H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman to insure that the FBI investigation of Watergate did not expose unrelated CIA covert activities or White House special investigative unit activities, and that the CIA and the FBI should coordinate to that end. That is a Presidential act and it is admitted. The only other Presidential act occurred on July 6, several wee later, and this is what the President said after being informed by Pat Gray that his aides are attempting to mortally wound the President. The President said, "Pat, You just continue. to conduct your aggressive investigation." [00.36.29]