Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 046-173
Date: Wednesday, May 23, 1973 at 3:58 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/046-173

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.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] Yes, sir.
[0:02] Hi, Ron.
[0:03] I have to go over to Blair House, as you know, for a meeting with those Congressmen at 5 o'clock.
[0:08] I'll be coming out about 6.
[0:10] I hope you can keep the press, you know, at a reasonable distance.
[0:16] I don't want to be assaulted when I come out.
[0:19] No, no.
[0:20] We'll handle that, sir.
[0:21] You know, say, well, when are you going to do this or that?
[0:24] Right.
[0:25] And I think it'll be all right.
[0:26] Don't you think so?
[0:27] Yes, sir.
[0:27] We had a good day on the Hill.
[0:29] Oh, yeah, we won the veto, and Pat Richardson came through the committee, right?
[0:33] That's right, yeah.
[0:35] And Olch just destroyed McCord.
[0:38] Was totally destroyed.
[0:39] What did he say?
[0:40] He's McCord's attorney.
[0:42] Who is Olch?
[0:43] Olch is the fellow who formerly represented McCord.
[0:50] Oh, yeah, but not now.
[0:51] No, and Olch just went line by line through McCord's testimony.
[0:58] and just cut his throat and he referred to a book that the guard is already writing you know with chapter by chapter through the book and it and it just just totally destroyed him
[1:14] And so we've got more confusion now within the third day of hearings.
[1:19] There is direct, absolute conflict between Ulch and McCord on some of the key testimony.
[1:27] What kind of stuff did Ulch destroy him on, Ron?
[1:29] Just word, you know, almost paragraph by paragraph refuting what McCord had said.
[1:36] On what issues?
[1:39] On the issues primarily...
[1:42] what he was told in certain settings regarding, you know, direction of the operation and those types of things.
[1:52] Yeah.
[1:55] Oh, boy.
[1:56] Well, anyway, there's a hell of a lot of lying going on, although we know that McCord is setting other people up just as he is.
[2:06] Don't you think so?
[2:07] Well, apparently so.
[2:08] I mean, that's the...
[2:14] I'm glad you came through.
[2:15] I'm going to have a little chat with them.
[2:17] After this thing tonight, Ron, so that you can know, I'm just going to take a quick trip to Camp David, mainly to get some thoughts together for the briefing tomorrow.
[2:27] I haven't had a chance.
[2:28] And we'll have, I think, Scowcroft is going to go along.
[2:32] So that you can be sure to tell the President's going up to write us, work on his remarks for tomorrow.
[2:37] Right.
[2:38] Another reason I'm going is that
[2:40] confusion in the White House right now with that party that I will get a good night's sleep and I need one right now.
[2:45] Right.
[2:45] Yes, sir.
[2:46] That's okay.
[2:47] Okay.
[2:47] I don't want to think I'm up there lonely or anything.
[2:49] No, I understand.
[2:51] All right.
[2:51] Thank you, Ron.
[2:52] Thank you.