Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 5, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 5, 1973
[00.29.48] Senator BAKER. Did you ever meet and talk with Mr. Magruder in Mr. O'Brien's office? Mr. REISNER. ,No, the only time testified have been in Mr. O'Brien's office was this April. I did not meet, with Mr. Magruder in Mr. O'Brien's office. I talked to him on the phone and he called me from Mr. O'Brien's office to express his displeasure at, My not coming to the meeting. I met with Mr. O'Brien subsequently in which I described the nature of the conversation, sure, go ahead and meet with his staff, Senator BAKER. For the record, -would you describe--would you say who Mr. O'Brien Is? Mr. REISNER. Mr. Paul O'Brien is lawyer here in Washington who was employed by the Re-Election Committee and in that role was just providing advice and the advice was you simply have, if you want to have counsel, you should have your own counsel, keep your own counsel, you know. Senator BAKER. Did he advise you? about what You should say to the staff or what you can testify. Mr. REISNER. He told me I should tell the truth. Senator BAKER. Did he, tell you anything else? Mr. REISNER. No, sir. Senator BAKER, I understand that you mentioned a conversation with Mr. Magruder and an unidentified party on the other end of the telephone you thought, might, be Mr. Colson. Mr. REISNER. I have testified I was sitting in Mr. Magruder's Office and listened to him receive a phone call. It is my impression it was from. Mr. Colson. Senator BAKER. I apologize to you for, not being present when you covered that testimony. But even acknowledging the repetition, would You tell me on what you base that conclusion? Mr. REISNER. It Just seems to me that, I do not, know, I had the impression that, that, particular phone. call came from Mr. Colson. It seems to me his secretary, Who would have been sitting practically in the entrance to his office might have said It is Mr. Colson or something like that. Senator BAKER. I am not trying to protect Mr. Colson, I am simply trying to sharpen the identification to have some bearing on the quality of the identification . So you are speaking of' Mr. Magruder's secretary. Mr. REISNER. Yes, sir. There are any number of ways In -which I could have gained the impression that it was Mr. Colson. Senator BAKER. Can you help me any further? Mr. REISNER. It could have been, he could have said, he could have addressed him by -name or something in the phone call. Subsequently, I do remember having a conversation about this kind of thing. Maybe it is important to bring up the nature of how I testified to that phone call to the staff. I think the staff was asking me about demonstrators and they were saying, well, what would cash--what cash would have been spent on, do you have any knowledge of demonstrators. and I said I only have knowledge of this one occasion possibly this other one. Senator BAYER, IS that the total of your information on the question of identifying Mr. Colson as the other end of the telephone conversation? Mr. REISNER. To the best, of my recollection it was just gained circumstantially from sitting in front of this man and gaining a feeling of who he was talking to, Senator BAKER. I am trying to be fair to both you and Mr. Colson. It is your firm impression that was Mr. Colson on the other end of the telephone but you cannot supply additional information on which you base that judgment. Is that a fair restatement, of your situation? Mr. REISNER. Yes, sir perhaps even less strongly. I think I indicated it could have been Mr. Howard, Mr. Colson's assistant. Senator BAKER, Mr. Reisner, time is growing short and we are going to have another rollcall very shortly. With other witnesses I assume you are willing to return and give further testimony if that becomes necessary? Mr. REISNER. Certainly. Senator BAKER. I would yield now, if I may, to Senator Gurney. Senator GURNEY. Mr. Reisner, who employed you at the Committee To Re-Elect, the President? Mr. REISNER. Who employed me.; who offered me the job? Senator GURNEY. Yes. Mr. REISNER. Mr. Magruder did. Senator GURNEY. Were you recommended by anybody? Mr. REISNER. Yes, sir; I was; I was recommended by 'Mr. Malek to Mr. Magruder, Senator GURNEY. What was your job before that? Mr. REISNER. Prior to coming to the Committee for the, Re-Election of the President, I was in the Environmental Protection Agency. Senator GURNEY. For how long? Mr. REISNER. For approximately 3 or 4 months-4 months. I had graduated from school in June, had gone to work for the environmental Protection Agency, and then had been recommended for the job and had gone over and accepted it. Senator GURNEY. EPA was your first job after school? Mr. REISNER. Yes, sir. Senator GURNEY. What was your pay there? Mr. REISNER. My pay there? Senator GURNEY. Yes. Mr. REISNER. My pay was GS--12 Salary, which was $15,000. Senator GURNEY. And at the Committee To Re-Elect? Mr. REISNER. Identical. The pay was a lateral pay. Senator GURNEY, One or two questions here that, others have raised but I would like a little more detail on. You mentioned that about the meeting of Mr. Magruder With Mitchell In 'March? Mr. REISNER. Yes, sir. Senator GURNEY. And upon his return you were instructed to call Gordon Liddy and tell him the. project was approved? Mr. REISNER. I have testified to that. I have also, I think, indicated that I cannot be certain that it came following that, meeting. but that, testified do remember such a phone call. Senator GURNEY. Did you have any such idea what the project was? Mr. REISNER. No, sir, I did not. in, fact, it led to confusion on the phone call when Mr. Liddy objected to the time limit and I indicated to him testified did not know what he was talking about,. Senator GURNEY. You mentioned some of the meetings here that you noted in your log between Magruder and Mitchell and Dean and Liddy. Did you ever know what those meetings were about? Mr. REISNER. -No, sir, 1 did not.