Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 6, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 6, 1973
[00.25.34] Mr. Sloan, do you know Lee Nunn? Mr. SLOAN. Yes. Senator ERVIN. What position did he have with respect to the Committee To Re-Elect the President? Mr. SLOAN. He. was vice chairman of the Finance Committee To Re-Elect the President. Senator ERVIN. Did he give you any advice as to what you should do in respect to testifying about any' of the matters that are being investigated? Mr. SLOAN. He personally never suggested anything to me except to tell the truth. He relayed to me a telephone conversation, the fact that an individual whom he refused to name to me from the political committee upstairs had come to his office with the suggestion use Mr. Nunn's friendship with me to pressure me to take the amendment. I understood him to undertake that conversation with me on the basis of friendship. He told me essentially to tell the gentleman, whoever he was, that he would in no way advise whoever was in my position to take orders in this situation to take the fifth amendment. He just conveyed the fact, he wanted me to know that there Were pressures, external pressures, that might well be brought to bear on me and hurt my testimony as the case developed. Senator ERVIN. The only identification he gave to you about that certain person who had called him was that it was an official. of the Committee To Re-Elect, the President? Mr. SLOAN. Yes, sir. I bad the distinct impression that it staff member of the political committee. Senator ERVIN. Yes; but he. told you that he was conveying the, message to you, but that he would advise, you to tell the truth? Mr. SLOAN. No; he was not conveying that that individual's request to me. He told the gentleman that he would in no way ever advise me to take that course of action. He called me just to let me know the fact that someone had approached him with that kind of request. It was purely to inform me, to alert me, that pressures might be brought to bear on me over a period of time. Senator ERVIN. Well, I still repeat what, I said earlier in my interrogation of you; I think you have strengthened my faith in the old adage that, an honest man is the noblest work of God. [00.28.05--classic ERVIN] I will also meditate for a, moment, on the old saying, "What a tangled web we, weave when first we practice to deceive.," That is all. Senator Gurney. Senator GURNEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You have certainly been very full in your information to the committee, Mr. Sloan. I think you have covered about all that you know about it. There are one or two little loose ends I would like to clean up this afternoon, myself. On the interrogation Just recently by the chairman, let us go back to that Mexican-Dahlberg transaction. Mr. SLOAN. Yes, sir. Senator GURNEY. When did you give the checks, to Liddy? Mr. SLOAN. Essentially what happened here, Senator, 'the four Mexican checks had come in the night of April 5'. They were drawn on a foreign bank. I had no knowledge of whether they were even legal or whether they could be accepted 'into the campaign. We were so busy in that period of time, I essentially set aside anything that was a problem area, to get through this transition period. Probably sometime during that following week, I addressed myself to the problem areas It. was in this case clear by the dates and the checks that they had been issued prior to April 7. Senator GURNEY. I must say I am really not interested in retracing ground we, covered before. I' am just curious about the date you gave them to Mr. Liddy. Mr. SLOAN. I would 'think it was probably sometime in the week following April 7--probably within a 10-day period. Senator GURNEY. And he said he would take, care of cashing them. Mr. SLOAN. If I could correct that, Senator, thinking of the Dahlberg check that, I gave to him immediately after I received it, from Secretary Stans, I would say I probably gave it to him within a day or two after the 7th. Senator GURNEY. Now, then, you have testified that he returned the cash to you when? Mr. SLOAN. My best recollection was in the two installments, probably separated by a week or two in mid-May. [00.30.20] Senator GURNEY. And how much was involved, in cash? Mr. SLOAN. What went out was $114,000, I think. It, came back $25,000 short, Senator GURNEY Did you ever inquire in that. intervening time-I think nearly a month went by--what happened to the money? After all, he was simply to cash these checks and bring back the money, Was he not? Mr. SLOAN. Yes, sir, I did question him on that. He said, "I have given them to people in different places- in the country and it takes a while; I will get them back as soon as I can. Senator GURNEY. Did he ever explain the brokerage fee of $2,500? Mr. SLOAN. I asked him that question, Senator. He indicated that there were expenses involved. He never gave me a detailed breakdown, At that point in time, it was an accomplished fact. I essentially broke it off, but I believe I told Secretary Stans of the fact that it had been short, by that amount. [00.31.16]