Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 27, 1974 (1/2)
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 27, 1974 (1/2)
[00.46.13] Mr. RANGEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition. The CHAIRMAN. If the gentleman will defer, the gentleman from Alabama has to ask unanimous consent. Mr. FLOWERS. I regret I passed over the most important thing I ask unanimous consent that the debate on this motion of mine be limited to 20 minutes, with 10 minutes going to the, proponents and 10 minutes to the opponents of the. motion, The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, it is so ordered, and the gentleman from New York. Mr. RANGEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise to support this paragraph No. 7 which deals with charging the President with disseminating information received from officers of the, Department of Justice of the United States to subjects of the investigation conducted by lawfully authorized investigative officers and employees of the Untied States for the purpose of aiding and assisting such subjects and in their attempts to avoid criminal liability. This is merely to suggest that one of the, most sacred institutions that we have in this country is the proceedings which take, place in the grand jury. It shocks my sensitivity to hear certain members of this Committee' indicate that an inference is drawn because the President shares information that he receives from the Acting Attorney General -with people that he knows are, being, investigated for possible indictment, where the Acting Attorney General has indicated that these people would be Indicted, that we can Say that the President' shared grand jury information with these people that we should draw two inferences One inference is that the President would want them to he and conform their story to one that would avoid liability, and one of the members suggested that we should consider the fact that that. perhaps in this particular instance the President wanted one of his' men to tell the truth. I submit that regardless of which one of these two the. President was suggesting, it was violating the secret, information which should have remained in the grand jury and should never have been shared in the first instance with the President. And the President should never have used this information regardless of for what purpose to share with other people. This is especially so when he went out of his -way to tell Henry Petersen that he -was going to keep that information confidential. But, this is all a part of a plan.. Most of you recall on March 21 when John Dean came to the, President to talk about the cancer that was growing in the White House that the President again recalled exactly what he, was being told on his Dictaphone and the President knew the people in the, White House had started this conspiracy rolling. Of course, at that time it was merely to gather political intelligence. The President had remembered some of the, political intelligence because CRP would give it to Magruder, Magruder would give it, to Strachan, Strachan would give it to Haldeman. and Haldeman has discussed it with the President and we have that on a tape. Now just where do you get political intelligence from your opponents? The record is very clear, because. the President responds, "Are we bugging -Muskie are we. bugging McGovern" and the, inference which I draw "or it just the DNC." Now, I don't know how the President would expect they would get this information because you are only a burglar if you get caught, and so when the President asked information of the Attorney General, and he directed Ehrlichman to tell Kleindienst that no White House personnel had prior knowledge of the break-in, it was strange how one, member said yesterday well, they didn't have prior knowledge. Well, in other words, I will accept what the member said. I don't really believe that Liddy and Hunt called the President of the United States and said we are going to bit on June 17. I do believe, however that Ehrlichman knew that, Haldeman knew, that Mitchell knew that, they had, gotten enough money together for' Liddy and Hunt. Liddy was transferred off the White House payroll to go to work for CRP. Hunt, still had his office in the White House, and Mr. Kleindienst, who is supposed to be receiving this report for the first time, saw the head of the burglary on the golf course, and he never told the FBI. So, the scenario which one member said, it's true they never had prior knowledge that the only knowledge people in the White House did not know was when they were going to hit. But, they certainly knew when they got information whether they were in San Clemente, whether they were in Washington, D.C. or whether or not they were in Key Biscayne, that. Liddy and Hunt were the people. As a matter of fact, the President says on one of the tapes that we received that he immediately suspected Colson. Let's find out what the plan is. Most of you heard that, it was suggested to Mr. Mitchell. He was the new plan, as Martha clearly pointed out, that they felt that if they could deliver Mr. Mitchell, then perhaps it would keep away from the White House and keep it away from the Presidency. I do not know why people insist that you read the whole paragraph after you talk about the stonewall and plead the fifth amendment, because the President is saying he would rather do it another way if it is going to come out at all. But, the President concludes to read the bottom line that whether you stonewall, cover up, and save the. plan, the last thing that he said to Mr. Mitchell is that: "You know, lip to' this point, the whole theory has been containment, and you know that, John, but they are shifting now, and the important thing is to protect the people. The important thing is to go to the grand jury, get the information and report back to those people who are the suspects by Henry Petersen." The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman has consumed 5 minutes. I will recognize the gentleman from Iowa, Mr. Mayne, for 5 minutes. [00.52.50]