Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 044-027
Date: Tuesday, March 27, 1973 at 4:20 PM
Participants: Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Dean, John W., III
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/044-027

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello?
[0:01] I'm John Dean.
[0:01] John?
[0:02] Yes, Bob.
[0:04] What is our status on getting a report from Grand Jury Activity now?
[0:09] I'm just phrasing that with Dick Moore to ask him if he would call Henry Peterson.
[0:13] OK.
[0:13] I used to do that, but I don't think I ought to do it right now.
[0:16] All right.
[0:16] Will Peterson talk to Moore?
[0:17] I'm sure he will.
[0:18] OK. We're trying to reach Klein Dean's now.
[0:21] He's gone to Arizona, and we're ordering him back.
[0:23] Good.
[0:24] Erlichman is.
[0:26] We ought to know what happened today.
[0:28] find out what Hunt did.
[0:30] Well, I'll tell you what I was told after we talked the last time that it was planned.
[0:34] He was going to give a written statement for any questions they'd ask him and take the fifth on everything else.
[0:42] What is the written statement regarding?
[0:44] Nothing very sensitive.
[0:48] Taking the fifth on everything else?
[0:49] Yeah.
[0:49] Okay.
[0:49] Now it's going to be hard to get a report out of council as to what occurred down there until
[0:58] o'clock or so, because they had a 2 o'clock meeting and counsel were to be present.
[1:05] Oh.
[1:07] So the grand jury didn't meet this afternoon?
[1:13] Yes, they did.
[1:14] It was after that meeting.
[1:17] All counsel were present in the courtroom, and then was to go before the grand jury after that situation.
[1:26] So that would be going on now.
[1:29] Okay.
[1:31] We have a terrible breakdown in communication with both the committee and now the grand jury.
[1:36] I used to be able to stay plugged in with the grand jury, but I'm too hot to do it now.
[1:39] I'll call Dick right away and see if he's got a reporter.
[1:44] Fielding step in and do that?
[1:51] Point being, I'm sure Dick's fast enough to handle your communication stuff for you.
[1:59] I agree.
[1:59] Let me talk to Fred.
[2:03] Fred's in Henry, too, so he's developing a relationship with him.
[2:11] Here's the other thing is people probably won't know right now what's happened.
[2:16] They don't report to him hour by hour.
[2:18] He has not injected himself into it, so probably it won't be until later that we can get a report from him anyway.
[2:27] Okay.
[2:27] He doesn't expect anything anyhow, though.
[2:29] Well, let me tell you another development, though.
[2:31] Okay.
[2:32] Emily Bailey called Mitchell.
[2:35] He called him initially to raise that thing that Mitchell raised down here.
[2:39] That lawyer?
[2:41] He called on this thing, you know, his client regarding the gold reserve thing and all that.
[2:46] Oh, yeah.
[2:46] And then they went on from there and revealed this to Mr. Wald.
[2:53] Mr. Wald, one of the two, I'm not clear on which it was.
[2:57] that they be present in the court when McCord appears on Thursday or Friday, that he, Finsterwald, be present.
[3:04] To request that Finsterwald be present?
[3:06] Yeah, and join as co-counsel with Bailey's firm.
[3:12] And in the course of the conversation, Finsterwald said to Bailey, we don't give a damn about McCord.
[3:19] We're after Richard Nixon.
[3:22] Really?
[3:22] Mm-hmm.
[3:23] Now, Moore, that's what he's working on right now.
[3:25] He's getting some of the facts back from, some information back from Mitchell.
[3:32] And maybe Mitchell will have a daily step forward.
[3:38] We'll have a conference on this.
[3:41] Finsterwald put up his bond, for one thing.
[3:43] And the more I think about Finsterwald, the more I think that could be a link to Kennedy.
[3:51] For this reason, Finsterwald...
[3:53] served as the chief counsel to the Administrative Practice and Procedure Subcommittee, run by Ed Long as chairman.
[4:02] Kennedy was the second-ranking member of that committee and then became chairman.
[4:06] It's probable that Finsterwald was even on a while after Kennedy came on.
[4:11] They obviously may have a relationship.
[4:25] Okay.
[4:26] Okay.
[4:27] Yep.
[4:27] Good.
[4:28] Thanks.