Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 14, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 14, 1973
[00.30.45] Mr. DASH. At that time, do you recall whether Mr. Stans was informed as to what occurred, actually the true story, not the So-called false story? Mr. MAGRUDER. Well, my recollection and when we discussed the other day, I think it was rather quick because we were trying to fold up. The, discussion was in three parts. Earlier that morning Mr. Sloan had come to our office. Mr. LaRue, who he had indicated in testimony, Was With him, was in there that, weekend he was in Mississippi. Mr. Sloan came up and, as I recall, Mr. Mardian, myself and Mr. Mitchell were in the office and that is at the time when 'Mr., Sloan, who was asking for guidance and Mr. Mitchell indicated the statement about when the going gets tough the tough get going and we knew Mr. Sloan -was rather disturbed with that. My understanding was he, went down and talked to Mr. Stans and Mr. Stans called and said he wanted to talk to Mr. Mitchell when he came up. Mr. Mitchell indicated I should stay in the meeting which I did. It was not a long meeting and basically three things were discussed in general terms, On(, was first, Mr. Stans wanted to know what had happened. We told him, that things had not gone right, that things had gone wrong. we did not say that either Mr. Mitchell nor I Were directly involved In Liddy's activities, but, that things had gone wrong and we knew they had gone wrong and we, knew that Mr. Liddy was involved. we discussed in fact that Mr. Liddy probably at some point I in time would I have To terminate his employment from the, committee, Then, as I recall, we Indicated to Mr. Stans the problem we had with the money, and. would he try to work with Mr. Sloan to see if Mr. Sloan would be more cooperative about happened with the money and how much there was and Mr. Stans indicated that he would. In recollecting as best as I could that, meeting we did not get. into great. detail as to What had actually happened at the Watergate. Mr. DASH. All right. Your I testimony now here in public session, and you are correcting some of the statements you made in executive' session, Which I believe the testimony will show that you did indicate to Mr. Stans that you and Mr. Mitchell were involved. Mr. MAGRUDER. I do not think I said that in executive session but, as I recall, and I did not remember that meeting in great detail until we talked about It. we did not, say we were directly involved. I think the impression was given that, we were certainly aware of what happened, I think Ilk that would be a fair statement. That we were aware. of what had happened and there was an operation that occurred while we Were In effect, while he was, In effect, In charge of the campaign. Mr. DASH.' And basically, you were telling Mr. Stans how this money was spent, Mr. MAGRUDER. Yes. that is correct. Mr. DASH. All right. -Now. later when you say that assurances were made or you heard assurances were being made that the criminal defendants and their families would be taken care of by financial support and otherwise, do you recall who gave you those assurances? Mr. MAGRUDER. Primarily Mr. Dean and Mr. Mitchell. Mr. DASH. NOW, did you testify before the grand jury under any immunity provision? Mr. MAGRUDER. No, sir. Mr. DASH. '"Then did you most recently testify before the grand jury? Mr. MAGRUDER. That would have been probably 2 weeks after the April 14 discussion With the prosecutors. Mr. DASH. What understanding do you have with the prosecutors with regard to yourself at this point? Mr. MAGRUDER. As I understand it, I will plead guilty to a 1-count felony charge of conspiracy. Mr. DASH. And will you be a witness at the criminal trial? Mr. MAGRUDER. Yes, sir. Mr. DASH. I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman. Senator ERVIN. Senator Baker. Senator BAKER. Mr. Chairman, thank you -very much. As we did on yesterday, we made an effort to rotate the, questioning among members of the, committee so that the sequence is not exactly the same. We intended to try that again today with the Chairman's concurrence and to rearrange. the sequence of things in a different way. I will now follow Mr. Dash, I will yield then in our turn to Senator Weicker and Senator Gurney, and instead of minority counsel following after majority counsel, minority counsel will conclude the questioning of this witness. [00.35.04] Mr. Magruder, I am not clear in my mind about who originated the idea of the clandestine intelligence operation and when that was done. Mr. MAGRUDER. Well, Mr. Liddy was brought over to me at, the committee in December and I was told that, he would handle our intelligence-gathering operations, by Mr. Dean. He indicated that Mr. Mitchell had approved this. We did not, discuss in detail at that meeting what these operations would be. Senator BAKER. Did you discuss electronic eavesdropping Mr. MAGRUDER. No, we did not. Senator BAKER. Did you discuss, the Democratic, National Committee? Mr. MAGRUDER. No , we did not. [00.35.48] Senator BAKER. But, the chain of events is that Mr. Dean recommended. to you Mr. Liddy. Mr. MAGRUDER. Yes, sir. Senator BAKER. It, is your understanding that Mr. Mitchell had recommended Mr. Liddy? Mr. MAGRUDER. My understanding is they had met in November, November 24, Mr. Liddy, Mr. Dean and Mr. Mitchell at that at time it was agreed he, would become our counsel and handle our intelligence operations. [00.36.10]