Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 6, 1973 Testimony of Hugh Sloan
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 6, 1973 Testimony of Hugh Sloan
[00.52.16] Senator ERVIN. Call YOU explain to the committee why the cheeks were transmitted from Washington to Miami and deposited in a bank in Miami to the credit of Bernard L. Barker? Mr. SLOAN.! have no idea, Senator. Senator ERVIN. Would you not infer from those circumstances that somebody that had something to do with the checks did not want anybody to know about receiving the checks and wanted to hide them? Mr. SLOAN. Senator, my understanding when I received them was a judgment had been made that they were pre-April 7 contributions and, therefore, were not required to be reported. I did turn them over to Mr. Liddy to have them converted to cash. He handled them from there. Why he gave them to Mr. Barker, I have no idea. Senator ERVIN. Well, even though they did not, have to be reported, can you inform us why, instead of being put in the safe in the committee office, why they were sent, down to Florida? Mr. SLOAN. I do not know, why they went to Florida, Senator. The reason for the conversion of those checks to cash was to attempt to comply with the spirit, of the old law of distributing an individual's contribution in $3,000 increments among pre-April 7 committees. But as those bank accounts had been closed out, the only way to do this was by converting it to cash and counting that, cash as a transfer as cash on hand in the Media Committee To Re-Elect the President. It was reported in that figure--- Senator ERVIN. I am a little mystified. How could it comply with the old law with reference to the receipt of $3,000 or less in cash by having $114,000 deposited in the bank account, of Bernard L. Barker in Miami, Fla.? Mr. SLOAN, Senator, I do not know any circumstances surrounding the deposit of the checks in Mr. Barker's account. That was not my intent in turning those checks over to Mr. Liddy. Senator ERVIN. Who instructed you to turn them over to Mr. Liddy? Mr. SLOAN. I believe I took them to Mr. Liddy in response to the conversation of Secretary Stans. He asked me, do we have any problem in handling these? I told him I did not know; I would check with counsel. His recommended way of handling this was a diversion to cash. He offered at that time to handle that, transaction for me. It took him until mid-May to return those. funds to me in cash form, minus roughly $2,500 expenditure, [00.54.42--A VERY FUNNY PART HERE] Senator ERVIN. I hate to make comparisons, but I would have to say on that, Mr. Liddy in one respect, was like the Lord, he moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. [Laughter.] Now as a matter of fact, do you not know that some of the funds that were drawn out, that represented proceeds of these checks which were drawn out of the Miami bank on Mr. Barker, were found in the possession of some of the people who were caught in the ;burglary at the Watergate? Mr. SLOAN. I have since learned that,- yes, sir. Senator ERVIN. How long was it after the break-in before, you learned that? Mr. SLOAN. I believe not that specific reference, but the fact that these men had been found with $100 bills in their Possession came out Probably within 3 days of the first, week. I do not have a direct recollection of when that connection specifically was made to the bank account of Mr. Barker. Senator ERVIN. Well, during the trial, in January, it was brought out that the Miami bank in which Mr. Barker had deposited these funds had, pursuant to law, kept the serial number of $100 bills withdrawn by Barker and that the serial Nos. 043 $100 bills found in the possession of those who burglarized the Watergate bore those serial numbers? Mr. SLOAN. Yes, sir. Senator ERVIN. And that came out very early in the newspaper, did it not? Mr. SLOAN. I do not think it took too long. It came out certainly within a, week or two. [00.56.18--more funny stuff] Senator ERVIN. NOW, I do not mean any of these questions to make any reflection on you, because your testimony and your forthrightness have renewed my faith in the old adage that an honest man is the noblest work of God and I am not in any of these expressions meaning to reflect on you in any respect. Senator BAKER. Nor on God? Senator ERVIN. No. Now, there was a good deal of consternation among the officers and employees of the Committee To Re-Elect the President when it was reported on the morning of June 17, 1972, that one of the employees of the committee, Mr. McCord, and four other people had been arrested in an act of burglary during the early morning hours of that, day, was there not? Mr. SLOAN. Yes, sir. [00.57.18] Senator ERVIN. And that was the time that Mr. Liddy made his statement to you to the effect that "some of his boys had been caught in the Watergate" and he had "made a mistake" in letting one of "our people participate" in the matter? Mr. SLOAN. Yes, sir; that is correct. Excuse me, Senator. He did not say, "My boys were caught last night in the Watergate." He just said, "My boys were caught," with no direct connection to Watergate. Senator ERVIN. You inferred what he was talking about? Mr. SLOAN. Not until after I read the newspapers, Senator. He made that comment to me before I knew of the break-in. [00.57.54]