The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0121/01211.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 22KB | 476 lines

$Unique_ID{bob01211}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Nixon Tapes, The
April 16, 1973. (12:00pm - 12:31pm)}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Various}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{nixon
pres
haldeman
hr
say
get
am
len
ron
ehrlichman}
$Date{1974}
$Log{}
Title:       Nixon Tapes, The
Author:      Various
Date:        1974

April 16, 1973. (12:00pm - 12:31pm)

Meeting:  President Nixon and HR Haldeman, Oval Office

                         ----------------------------
              Material unrelated to Presidential actions deleted
                         ----------------------------

Pres. Nixon:  Now we got a plan on how we stage this damn thing in the first
               stages.  Ron's got it all worked out.  We've gone over, and
               then he's got the use of this Advisory Group and -

Pres. Nixon:  What does this amount to Bob?

HR Haldeman:  Well the trouble is, you can't leave that out because you get
               into invariables of whether you do it before or after the
               Magruder story is out.  He feels, and they all feel, I guess,
               that you have to establish your position and what you have done
               and the scenario works pretty well on that.

Pres. Nixon:  Yeah, but you don't do a backgrounder on that.

HR Haldeman:  It works out pretty well on that.  The ideal time to do it is
               when you break the case.  Get Petersen over here.  You run your
               backgrounder, tell your story.  You know, I got into this and
               this is what I have done.  Or Ziegler does, or however you do
               it.  I guess you will do it.  And then you say this has led, as
               we fully suspected it would, to the next major step.  That Mr.
               Petersen here will describe which is the status of the case
               today.  And then Petersen says "As the President has reviewed
               these steps, and I can tell you today that we have broken the
               case and that Jeb Magruder, one of the principal figures in
               this, has given us a full report on exactly what did transpire.
               It clearly establishes by his own testimony his own guilt as a
               high official of the Re-Election Committee and provides charges
               against others which we are pursuing with the same diligence
               that we have up to now, and I will not discuss the others.  We
               will get to that and report to you periodically as developments
               take place.  But this is following up proper processes and I am
               not going to jeopardize the rights of others.  He could say
               that I am not going to say anything, and nothing should be
               said, that will jeopardize the rights of the defendants, but I
               also am not going to say anything that will jeopardize our
               prosecution because we are moving on people and we are going to
               get them."  Ron will mention to you, and Steve chatted with me,
               Len Garment, as you would expect, has followed your orders that
               he steep himself in Watergate. He has steeped himself in the
               Watergate and now says it is imperative that he meet with you
               for at least five minutes, preferably prior to 2 o'clock today,
               to report to you.  And what he will say to you is that it is
               clear to him that you are in possession of knowledge that you
               cannot be in possession of without acting on.  And that your
               action has to include cutting cleanly and that you've got to
               remove me and probably Ehrlichman, although he has an
               interesting thesis, according to Ron - I have not talked to Len
               - which is at least worth considering, which is that I move
               ahead of the game now, put out my whole story, including the
               factual details without pulling any punches of my, you know,
               that $350,000 fund.  Yes, I sent it back to the Committee - and
               I go into specifics.  That I understand that Mr. Strachan
               delivered it to Mr. LaRue and that my motive was not to provide
               funds for the defendants. My motive was to move these funds
               back where they belonged, but I have to agree that I fully
               recognized that LaRue's motive in accepting money was, as I had
               been told at least, was a need to provide money for the
               defendants, to provide legal fees and to provide support for
               their families.  And I acted at all times at the instigation of
               and through John Dean.  In other words I didn't do any of this.
               John Dean came to me and said we need this and I knew I wanted
               to get rid of the money and said this is the way to do it, etc.
               And I must say that John Dean, the President's Counsel, through
               whom I was working and who was my only contact in this matter,
               at no time advised me that I was involved in doing anything
               that was illegal or improper and I would assume and have to act
               on the assumption that Dean got away with it.

Pres. Nixon:  Now, look.  I don't want to get into the position of -

HR Haldeman:  Hanging someone else?  Well, but he is going to have hung
               himself at that point in time.

Pres. Nixon:  But the whole point is whether he then gets off and gets on
               other things.  See what I mean?  I don't want him - he is in
               possession of knowledge about things that happened before this.
               I told him that was all National Security.

HR Haldeman:  OK.  Len makes a rather interesting case which is that we have
               to look at this in terms of the President and the Presidency.

Pres. Nixon:  Right.  I'll see him.

HR Haldeman:  That is what we all say.

Pres. Nixon:  Does he know what I have already done?

HR Haldeman:  I don't know.

Pres. Nixon:  Peterson and all the rest?

HR Haldeman:  I don't know.  Ehrlichman and Ziegler feel you shouldn't see him
               and that Ron should just assure him that you have all these
               facts and that you are moving and what he wants done is in the
               process of being done.

Pres. Nixon:  Why don't you call and tell him (unintelligible) in and tell him
               that now -

HR Haldeman:  I don't think I should tell him that.  John should.

Pres. Nixon:  I see your point, because he is asking for you to be fired?

HR Haldeman:  Well he is suggesting a route.  He mentioned a case that is a
               better route for me and is a better route for the Presidency.

Pres. Nixon:  But you would be the first one to go out?

HR Haldeman:  Yeah.  I go out and I resign.  I resign and tell my story
               publicly.  Not to the jury, but do it publicly in some fashion
               and tell the whole story, all the details.  And say that I am
               absolutely clear in my own mind that I have done nothing
               legally or morally wrong; that that might be up to the Grand
               Jury to determine.  Then his argument is that I am in a
               position - he thinks that I can bring something like that off.
               He feels that Ehrlichman should not try to do it because he
               doesn't think he can bring it off and he thinks, therefore,
               you've got to cover up and try to hold Ehrlichman in but if you
               get a problem you will just have to let him go.  But at that
               point it is a pretty rough spot anyway.

Pres. Nixon:  Yeah - we just don't know what the situation is on Ehrlichman,
               on what there is.

HR Haldeman:  No.  And there are more potentials there than there are on mine.
               Mine I think we have them all out and we know them all and