Nixon & Haldeman on Watergate and Grand Jury

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I said that one of the things you wanted to talk about

And he said, by all means, you should go right ahead and announce it.

It's important to get the word out and get several thousand people's minds.

And he said, that's a wonderful thing for the president to do.

Yes.

I said, the president thought what he'd like to do is meet with all of you before dinner and after dinner and

I think it's a good idea

So it's kind of a great thing that I should do it alone.

I think it's not something I should have come just to your house or my house.

They don't want all that crap.

What they want, well, they like to hear it because it's a personality.

Yeah, but it's different.

It's a different thing.

You have to have rock in your business.

You have to have the same career in that.

You have to rock in your business.

That's what I'm talking about.

I think the president ought to do it.

He ought to do it on that.

What's happening with the United States in the power and the world picture and the What was the date?

Well, totally in June, we don't have a date.

And I'm just being off this call.

And then the Frenchie of Lebanon is in the fall.

We don't have a date, and it may not.

The main goal is next year.

What do we have in July?

In July, we have the...

Ludo.

17.

Tanaka on 33rd.

Ludo.

He guesses not to go to Ludo.

Yeah.

I think not in July, but I think that in July.

I think that in July.

No, Sean would be October, as I understand it.

Probably late October, right?

Emperor, probably earlier late October.

All right.

Remember, well, if you've got any questions, period, you can ask a question of Joel.

I tend to break up and come down to the OAS reception part.

The OAS reception is important.

You know, for Latin Americans, I'm sure we're paying attention to that, because maybe I better do it myself.

You've got to figure out the possibility of a swing to do that.

But anyway, the only other setting is one day.

So I'm just trying to get my head on it.

I took it off, yeah.

Well, you then will not go down.

Well, I'll go down Friday morning.

I was going to stay for Roger's dinner Thursday night.

He's putting so much store by him.

Hold on, unless there's really a need to be down there.

No.

He's really, for some reason, I guess it's service.

They've changed it.

Did you know they had a cabinet?

First time they've ever had the staff in a building.

We should have a lobby there.

Good.

That's fine.

Uh, let me, uh, go over a couple of points here that, uh, relate to you.

The, uh, first, the consideration, and I'm pretty sure, I guess, some are going to leave you, but what can I do about it?

Um, I think we've, uh, honestly, we've, uh, all the load on the field now, you know, all the trains, everybody says, well, that's a good job.

You know, now we've really got to step in there and everybody's got to, well, we've been cranking up pretty well.

They've been saying to do all the, you know, keep, all the bridge, keep squirting out the lumber, and he has to go running around all the time, stepping on the back end, and there's a lot of people that have such things, so.

Now, if a roo has been helping

He has tried some, but not very much.

And so he finally just went to the crunch pretty much immediately and said, I've got to have some more wine.

The guy's like, I can't do it.

I can't.

And we better have her to do what she should.

That's why you went to town.

That's why I sent you here.

The police got you.

He didn't have it himself.

Thank you.

I think I'm at this point.

We have 39.

But there is no way that it can be done unless there is a way to get the money put in from China.

I don't think it's fair.

They've got other ways to do that.

So ready for next time.

They run, I understand the easy way is to pay them the vacancy and run them through the canning mill out there and get lost pretty easily.

The other thing is they use these canneries in the car.

I don't quite understand situation.

I mean, it seems to me that as far as .

So you didn't make a big sacrifice.

Really?

Yeah.

I hope so.

We haven't talked about it yet, but that's his offhand.

And if he makes these three times, you're in the loop.

There's no comment about it.

I don't know whether that means John.

I don't know about Krogh.

I don't know what happens to Krogh.

When he eats his Krogh, that's a perfect recovery.

But on the Krogh today, he didn't have a cure.

I don't even know what I'm talking about.

.

Thank you very much.

Mm-hmm.

I don't want to do anything.

Many of my constituents are such that it involves a long charge, I don't know, a long charge of invasions of the hospital.

Now, in those circumstances, that would be worse than just going on and saying, I don't know, I'm not saying anything.

In other words, you'd have to pay for this, and that would be a little easier to get by.

I think that's beautiful.

Maybe it says that.

Just go back to the sponge there again.

Once again, it's got his hopes in.

Take it.

One more.

He sees it.

Great training.

Especially when you come back and say, well, yeah, I'm getting my clemency.

So now I'm getting more.

I've got my clemency, but my wife's sick, so...

That's not what a lady does.

That's the other man, but he may be trying to let him say all he wants.

I really wonder

Two reasons not.

One, it'll be very hard for him to tell you.

I don't encourage that to happen.

And the other, just go and he hasn't done it.

It's better that he knows and then you really do not know.

It seems to me.

He's in a tough spot.

I don't think he's in a problem with mine.

I guess I don't.

It doesn't make any difference, but I know about that.

So if I could be able to say, well, that time I did that thing, I heard things later.

Oh, I heard about that.

I know that.

I know that's true.

I don't know any of it.

Colson has a deadline.

He told me he did that and he did some stuff on Thanksgiving.

I don't think you'll be able to see what I mean by it's not the major liability of water, it's the major liability because he doesn't

But he is the major liability on one of you.

But he is the one that presumably knows where he got the drugs.

I don't know.

My concern is that- I don't think- My concern is that- He may have- Yeah.

He doesn't even say so.

But what I got to do on the day that I asked was, you had indicated a precious moment later.

Dean said, back in the day, Colson would come in the living room, and his office called through and said, now look, get off your ass and start working.

He's got to get this fucking business back.

But Dean has it all along, and they can't do it.

They can't do it.

Yeah, I know that there was a scheme.

Except, you know, it seems that way, but you gotta, you gotta find another thing.

I was trying to go through another thing.

I, there's another implication.

Like, I've had horrendous pressure on people.

And I've had this great gracing on them at one point, and that's not a...

on the basis that they didn't have people covering the Democratic candidates and taping their speeches.

I know that.

And their press conferences and their Q&As.

Remember, you got into it because you asked for some stuff on it.

I got it.

You can't add the stuff that you wasn't getting.

I don't move my stack.

All right, but see, the mooters would say he was under enormous pressure from me to cover on that, and he was.

It wasn't to bug anybody.

It was to carry a tape recorder

And we also know that we were trying to find out what their schedules were.

We were trying to find out who was in charge of the thing.

But all things considered, the charge of me, I had no problem with it.

I got those reports.

I did see that I know about that.

What's his name?

John's friend.

The other 10% was gossip in the press corps and once in a while he'd get an interview with the candidate.

But you can see why the grand jury has its

over here.

.

... ... ... ... ... ...

Now, let's look at the advantages, the advantages are

But, uh, it's a grand jury.

How otherwise, you know, is.

No, that's a better way than the only other one I saw was just making our statements and saying, here's a statement I'll make to the Senate committee if they want to give it out.

The duty of that is the main answer that the Senate has come back with on the effective privilege on us.

Well, they also made the point, like Sherman Adams in some other case, that when there's a question of potential guilt of the party, then you shouldn't have it technically.

Well, if we go to the grand jury and they indict us, then obviously we're going to trial.

And if they don't indict us, then they clear us.

And more so because the judicial system in France is not active.

The press is one of the great debates here in Mississippi.

These matters are properly and only properly reported by the court.

But the reason the committee is investigating the court is that it would not pursue

Therefore, we've been enforcing a novel precedent.

Look how they've burned out the ties and posts of every goddamn great country.

We've had to do that.

It's consistent with this.

It's not just that there's a grand jury.

There's a road show up in Congress.

Now we'll find out if there's an issue, if there's a fact.

The venture is very appealing because of being limited to this case and the rules of evidence.

Yeah, to a certain extent.

At least to a degree.

I mean, there's at least some rules where I'm going to send it.

There's none at all.

There's no limitation.

No limitation.

Jurors, jurors are not.

For a grand jury who are not politically, basically not politically motivated and who are not on television.

And who are, if you're taking the record, it's in the executive subject of what it's saying.

He's very old.

Well, at any rate, it is what it is today.

Yeah.

Nixon & Haldeman on Watergate and Grand Jury

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on March 21, 1973

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