Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 5, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 5, 1973
[00.24.47] Mr. THOMPSON. Did Mr. Liddy seem to have any particular friends? You mentioned in other testimony that he had trouble with Mr. Magruder, personal differences. Mr. REISNER. I am not certain. I think the reason for the trouble with Mr. Magruder was that it may have been that he did not like to work for a younger man. I can remember on one occasion, after he had gone to work for the finance division, just seeing him in the hallway or something, and saying to him, how are you doing? And he went into a long explanation of his great respect for Mr. Stans and for Mr. Stans as a manager and that sort of thing. I think that he may very well have had a number of friends at the committee. I did not know Mr. Liddy very well at all. I saw him around. He seemed to be friendly with people at the committee. It-- Mr. THOMPSON Were you aware of any sums of cash that Mr. Liddy", was receiving for his activities? Mr. Reisner No, I am not. 1 was aware in one sense. I was aware that Mr. Porter had some cash in his possession that was contained in a safe in his office and that he, indicated to me that he had disbursements to Mr. Liddy. Mr. THOMPSON. What do you know about the cash that Porter kept in his office? First of all, again, who was Porter and what was his position? Mr. REISNER. Mr. Porter, who was the director of scheduling surrogate activity in the committee, had a safe in his office which he kept the petty cash for the committee. Prior to April 7, Porter came to me and asked me to assist him in just totaling up two disbursements and receipts related to that safe. Since I was-the purpose of my doing that, was to be able to report to my boss, Mr. Magruder, for whom Mr, Porter also worked, that there was not any pocketing of cash or anything like that, that the was an accounting, I mean that there was a system, And I did that. Mr. THOMPSON. Did you assist him in totaling the cash? Mr. Reisner I did and it was on that occasion that I learned Mr. Liddy was receiving some sums of cash from Mr. Porter. Mr. THOMPSON. Were there also receipts there for cash that been disbursed? Mr. REISNER. There weren't exactly receipts. There were slips of paper on which the initials of people to whom Mr. Porter, given cash were recorded and Mr. Liddy made a mark on those slips of paper. Mr. THOMPSON. What was the total amount, if you recall, of cash that had been disbursed plus the receipts? Mr. REISNER. The total amount, when you added up the amount Mr. Porter had received, seemed to be in the range of $40,000 to to $50,000 But, that was Mr. THOMPSON. Is that what, the committee referred to similar petty cash at, that time? Mr. REISNER. I referred to it as, petty cash until I had assisted Mr. Porter in the, activity. Mr. THOMPSON. And realized it was greater than you thought. Mr. Reisner I am sorry? Mr. THOMPSON. And you realized that, the money he had was more than you thought? Mr. REISNER. With this exception: It was not petty cash in the sense, that there were $7,000 or $8,000 on hand, which is certainly not petty cash. The $40,000 to $50,000 that I am referring to was sums that had accrued from the beginning of the time that there were receipts--July or June of 1971 until March. Mr. THOMPSON. How much cash was in the safe? Mr. REISNER. How much at that time? It seems to me it, was in the neighborhood of several thousand dollars--perhaps as much as five or six. Mr. THOMPSON. Did the receipts--do you recall any names of, or any amounts to individuals who were receiving money from Mr. Porter's safe? Mr. REISNER. Well, I can remember that there were, in addition to Mr. Liddy--now, Mr. Liddy was--it was 'Mr. Porter that indicated to me that Mr. Liddy was receiving money. There was an individual who was referred to January 17 a code name and that code name "Sedan Chair" and that that individual was- Mr. THOMPSON. Sedan Chair? Two words? Mr. REISNER. Yes. I believe it was actually "Sedan Chair 2." Mr. THOMPSON. Was there a Sedan Chair I? Mr. REISNER. I do not know, I do not know. Perhaps there Was. There ",as also an individual who worked for Mr. Porter named Roger Stone, who I believe received money. And there may have been other Individuals. But to my recollection, which is a little bit vague. on this, there, was not a regular disbursement, with those exceptions. Mr. THOMPSON. Who was Sedan Chair? Mr. REISNER. I do not know, I know that--well, I mean, I have sort, of a general circumstantial understanding of who I think Sedan Chair was, Mr. THOMPSON. Tell us about it. Mr. REISNER. I will come as close as I can, Mr. THOMPSON. Tell us about it. Mr. REISNER. Subsequent to that, after I learned that there was such an individual, I think I was more alert to the name and I did see a memo in April, I believe, or perhaps May, that purported to be a report from another campaign committee. I believe it was the Humphrey committee. I do not know for a fact who Sedan Chair was. It could have been someone who just simply had his disagreement with the Humphrey committee and wished to report on some on their activities. [00.30.25]