Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 5, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 5, 1973
[00.17.10] Senator WEICKER. After July I of' 1972, insofar as your own observation is concerned, was 'Mr. Clark MacGregor's role as the head of the Committee To Re-Elect the President a real role or was he a figurehead? Mr. REISNER. This was colored by the fact that I became Clark MacGregor's executive assistant. Senator WEICKER. I understand. Mr. REISNER. My impression was that, it certainly was. Senator WEICKER. Certainly was what? Mr. REISNER. A real role. That the activities for the Committee To Re-Elect the President increased as time went on, that the burden of the campaign director increased as the Campaign went on and, therefore, the activities that Mr. MacGregor performed may have been different than those that -Mr. Mitchell performed because of his own talents, and because of the fact there was more to do. Senator WEICKER. The running of the campaign from that, point, on, Was this a dual affair insofar as Mr. Strachan's role and Mr. MacGregor's role was concerned. How would you relate these two individuals? Mr. REISNER. No, Mr. Haldeman and Mr. MacGregor would both have been aware of decisions Concerning the campaign. Mr. Haldeman was informed after July 1 as he was prior to July I or) an information basis that decisions were those of the campaign director. Senator WEICKER. Lastly, did -Mr. Magruder ever tell you what happened to the Gemstone file after June 17? Mr. REISNER. Yes. In a, conversation that I think I began to go into with the chairman, Mr. Magruder during that conversation Said to me, "It's gone", I was asking about the Gemstone and its meaning and he said "I don't know what it means either, forget about it, it's gone, don't worry about it." I can only speculate as to what "It's gone" means. Senator WEICKER. I have no further questions at this time. I have to go vote. Senator INOUYE. Mr. Reisner, from your testimony you have indicated that you did inspect some of the so-called Gemstone files. You advised committee some of the files related to candidates and is believe you told the staff that some on' the related to a Presidential appointee and a Member of Congress. Were they all on a political nature? Mr. REISNER. Let me be specific about that, Senator, as to what I indicated to the staff. I indicated to the staff that the first time that I saw the word Gemstone was not in those materials that I have described as being the ones that I was asked to remove on June 17. There was an earlier occasion. The stationery was different. It seems to me that the memo said something like "Subject Gemstone" and there were two such memos that I remember having been marked destroy or something like that that were put in the outbox and it was from those two memos that I had gathered an impression of subject matter, but as to whether the means of obtaining that information was the same. I am not talking about the means of the subject matter . It was all political, wasn't it? Mr. REISNER. Those two pieces of general campaign intelligence that I have testified to, yes, sir. Senator INOUYE. Do you recall seeing anything referring to foreign organization or foreign countries? Mr. Reisner. No, sir; I do not. Senator INOUYE. Or international intrigue or conspiracy? Mr. REISNER. Let me, and this is again in order to be specific-in answer to your question I was asked by your staff whether I recognized other code names and I believe that the word "Crystal" was brought up in that connection. That sounds familiar. I do not know specifically that I had seen the word Crystal but it has a familiar sound to it. It seems to me that I had seen one or two other memos that concerned demonstrators, it concerned the kinds of things that I think Mr. McCord has testified about here before. But as to whether or not they related to Gemstone or to Crystal or anything like that, I cannot be specific because I do not remember. Senator INOUYE. You have testified that Mr. Sedan Chair received a thousand dollars a month. How long was he employed by your committee? Mr. REISNER. I do not know. I think, that if Sedan Chair referred to one individual, it was my impression that that individual was receiving compensation for approximately 6 to 9 months. Senator INOUYE. Do you know who Mr. Sedan Chair is? Mr. REISNER. No, sir; I do not. Senator INOUYE. I thought you told the committee that you had some idea as to his identity? Mr. REISNER. No, sir; at no time. Have I indicated that? I have indicated that I had some idea as to where he might have been located at one point in time but that I think is as close as I can come as to identity. Senator INOUYE. You have indicated you weren't quite certain of the nature of the Gemstone file and yet on June 17 when Mr. Magruder asked you to take those files home, you showed great reluctance to do so and had Mr. Odle take them back. Why were you so reluctant? Mr. REISNER. I think the nature of the reluctance was the nature of the circumstance under which the conversation took place. I think that had it come the other way, had Mr. Magruder said in the phone conversation YOU take that file home, I would have done SO. I do not think I would have had any reason not to. There was some hesitation, I think it, was because I did not know where the file was at the time he was saying to me on the phone you have the file, don't, you, and I was--in fact I did not know where it, was, and I think I said yes, I can find the, file. [00.23.32]