Conversation 929-003

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Yes, sir.

Well, I was, uh... Well, we didn't... Did you say you had a brief?

Yes, sir.

I, uh, suggested, uh...

Well, it's very difficult to do.

I'm going to start cutting it back just by the way.

It is hard for you because nobody says you thank you.

Well, that's right.

Then if you walk off the podium, then you've got a big issue about sitting there walking off late.

But we'll cut it back and deal with it.

Why don't you set a meeting with me or something at a certain time?

In fact, all we're saying is you're briefing, you know.

You see, the main thing is these briefings take an hour and a half, which I'm going to cut it back.

The main thing is what comes out of it.

And I guess you know, paragraph, most of the hour briefings...

I actually, well, I just don't want to wrestle around that much.

Do the best you can.

All right, I'm going to.

I'm very good at this.

I'll give you a shot.

See, we have Kissinger today.

He is going to go.

We're going to try to get him to go.

At noon, after the bipartisan leadership meeting.

And we have the economics.

Yeah, not for you, but- I'm not gonna see- No, no.

You just wanted me to, but I'm- No, no.

Over at the EOB.

You're making a seminar on the economic thing.

Then, of course, you see the PRC courtesy call within the- Are you sure Schultz doesn't make an air run on that?

No, no.

He's trying to get me to it.

I don't wanna do it.

I have to make precedent.

Let's talk about it.

It's not a bad idea, but we're going to do it.

I'm sort of trying to explain things, but PRC, I think I can do it.

The Wagner Group.

They're a good group of guys.

The Wagner Group.

How do you feel about the staff that you're on?

No, Al's doing a good job.

He's doing a good job, and he needs some help.

Well, he's moving to get some help.

We're working closely together.

And unless he basically wants to have both of these.

He's trying to do that and not accept it.

We can't do all the things, for example, as well as the other things.

That's right.

We're splitting a lot of it up.

That's a different way.

Oh, yes, sir.

Very much so.

Thank you.

We are just in that 8.30 meeting now, and Alan was talking to them about the economic thing.

And I'm sure Alan can report to you, but my sense in there is that those fellows in your economic meeting today at 4 o'clock should be shaken up a little bit.

I don't know what policy they want to undertake in terms of what's good for the economy.

And we certainly don't want to have a quick before you because it will lead you to the wrong decision.

Obviously, as there always is, and everybody's been with it, amongst the economic advisors, it's a shift of opinion, a difference, a different opinion.

And I think they need a little bit of a job done, fellas, and get it done now.

Whatever patients will be paid.

This is my sense of it.

We're going to head on the economic thing right now.

What do you need with that?

Good.

Well, you have nothing particularly to change.

No, I think we're in good shape in terms of how we're handling the Watergate thing.

And we're going to just stand up there against it.

and not be in a position to be driven to do that, of course.

Well, on some things we should.

On some things we should take it right on.

For example, the irresponsible piece that came flowing out of the Justice Department or something.

We're going to crack a bright head on it.

That's what we agreed to do last night.

We're not going to allow newspaper stories which lead to an innuendo.

Well, there's rumbling coming out of the Justice Department suggesting that there's been discussion about the possibility of calling the president before the grand jury, although this cannot be done.

Is that right?

on a constitutional basis.

We cracked that right out of the box last time.

Oh, there we are.

And they just simply called it for what it was, a shocking and irresponsible abuse of authority on the part of the federal prosecutors, if in fact they said what they were reported to say.

And then we went on to say that grand jury proceedings are by law secret.

And, you know, this type of

Well, we called Richardson last night, and we said that the White House has called Elliot Richardson to immediately investigate this matter.

And we'll ask, we could not reach him by telephone last night, we said, we'll ask Archibald Cox, the new special prosecutor, to look into this matter and do so immediately.

Good.

You know, that's the right thing to say.

That's not a surrogate, you know, concept.

I couldn't bring one.

I guess you've got to expect that kind.

You get that from Herbie, from the election in 2002.

I didn't know about that.

They probably wouldn't get that.

I'm not the least of these.

The only thing that we do

They may be.

You never know.

But they can't do it.

And the story points out the fact that they realize they can't do it.

And the story points out that there's no evidence.

There's no bombshell hidden.

They just indicate that the thrust of the testimony suggests that the president's

able to present his case before the grand jury and present his case as to how this could have gone on around him without him being aware of it.

Well, that's why we corrected the way we did.

And we're going to hit it again today?

Sure.

Don't let it get off the ground.

I don't know.

If they are, I'm not worried about that either.

Well, yes, no, we aren't going to worry about it.

We can't worry about anything.

We didn't expect anything, but I think that's a possibility that we have to be ready to deal with.

I mean, if we were bunching again, how would you handle that?

I mean, I suppose the answer is to rumble around about it, but it's about the person who should know about it.

They do that, then we take that on too.

We are no longer involved in any tradition proceeding at any level, in any aspect of this.

straight out gun political battle.

And it is nothing else.

And anyone, absolutely, and anyone who, if none of your people around you think of it as any different, as a matter of fact, last night was the strongest one to hit this thing.

This is a straight out, absolute gun political battle.

And everyone involved in this is out to cover their tail.

Some are motivated to do that.

Some are motivated as the traditional critics.

Some are motivated by hatred.

Some are motivated by selfishness.

Some are motivated by the desire for power.

But it is a straight political battle.

That's the way we've got to deal with it.

And in it all, the institutions, including the press, are acting, are actually stepping across the line, indulging in it,

Whatever they do with any institution, indulgence and excess, they've got to be called off it.

They're not the whole system, the son of grace.

And that's exactly what the Congress is doing in all levels.

It's what the Congress is doing.

It's what the Judiciary is doing.

Now, they can charge the White House did at certain levels, and the Campaign Committee did at certain levels.

But by God, we're doing something about it.

And we have done something about it.

Basically, what are their charge here with the President's case as to how this could have gone without his knowing?

No, it's really not a charge so much as it is one of those self-serving leaked statements.

What do you think it's from?

Archie Cox?

No, I don't think this is from Archie Cox.

That's what I was wondering.

I think this is probably from the Silver Group.

So how it could have gone on without the President knowing?

Well, they feel, and they said that there's no evidence that might surprise them to it, but, excuse me, they said under normal procedures that, you know, any other individual but the president would have been given an opportunity to state his case.

They said there was no evidence, unless the president heard.

No specific evidence, just an evidentiary pattern.

Pure shit.

Political.

Political shit.

So, get it hard.

Yes, sir.

Get the grand jury hard.

On the ground, I think the Leafs are running around with the other thing.

They have a full day in the conference against the Leafs.

But it did not involve a business against the Leafs.

It was an attempt to...

Now that's, they don't have a shred of evidence.

Wait, trust me with this.

You know, stupid.

You imply that they have, well, the same exact thing that they have.

See what I mean?

That's, uh, that's the old show, man.

Oh, I, well, anyway.

It is, you know, the thing, we've got to...

Well, basically, you've got to figure that those Justice Department people are left-wingers, too.

You know, it's sort of pretty much down there.

They just got caught up in there.

They're there to get some confidence, too.

They got taken to the beach, and they didn't do it properly.

Did you see that report?

Now they're trying to throw off on us.

And the other thing, too, is that they want to play the press.

You know, people want to play the press.

They're, if you know, part of the Jewish group at the Justice Department, the traditional left.

But it's going to take some hard gut fighting.

I don't know what the hell.

I still think that, I don't know about that.

I can't help but believe that's not it.

I have a negative effect on people that have a charge.

No, I don't think so either.

Oh, you don't?

No.

and made stuff this whole time, but... Yeah, because it's been...

I haven't realized it, but the grandeur is somebody else's.

That kind of individual has been hanging out there a lot with me in all the columns.

And particularly with the people around me.

It's just one of those impressions you should know about all this stuff.

Right?

Well, there's been some of that in the end, though.

But this is straight, this is not going to be it.

Well, but I don't mean to over-emphasize this.

It's something you should be aware of.

That's why I raised it and how we're handling it.

Sure.

This morning, because it's in the front page of the paper.

But it's nothing to force you to dwell on.

There's nothing to concentrate on.

We're just starting it on as we're doing it with the fashion of the day.

And I've been, you know,

a little low day yesterday morning, but I'll tell you, I'm ready for this battle.

What got you low yesterday morning?

Well, nothing specifically.

I probably missed Memorial Day.

You know, just the day off.

I was not low.

Not ready to fight?

Well, I was ready to fight, sure.

But you got to sort of knock yourself out.

Just go ahead and walk on the beach and come back.

But I'll tell you, my view is...

They were, I didn't go back and talk to the crew last night, you see.

Good.

And not belligerent, but they noted that not in a negative way.

And we're going to deal with them with great confidence.

And I'm not going to be, none of us here should be intimidated by the press.

That's right.

We're moving a little bit into that area.

Deal with them with great confidence, style, which means we use them.

That's right.

Be nice to them for our own sake.

Don't cater to them.

Answer the questions that we have available to answer.

I will not be crossing that, but neither will Jerry Warren.

We'll give them one answer to a question, and if they don't like it, they can go out and write what they want, because they're writing it anyway.

And that's exactly the way we'll deal with them, not the belligerent way.

That's not the defining way.

Now, that doesn't mean to suggest that the press is our main enemy.

the press can't go without the help of the Congress.

This is a straight, clear political battle where we have our supporters and there are critics coming against us.

In terms of your question earlier, I think Al is doing a fantastic job.

I just want to get some help.

He's moving to get some help.

Good.

And we're all working

He's got a good feel, I mean, this man developed a good feel as a result of it.

Yeah, right.

He's got a good feel, I mean, this man developed a good feel as a result of it.

Well, they don't, it's not put right that way.

The president should come before the grand jury.

Just, you know, it's a leakage from the grand jury process, which is what we took on.

And we'll get, we'll get... Well, Rick is going to have to stand up and answer.

Oh, we've told him that.

Investigate him.

And Archibald Fox better do.

Archie better put on his bow tie and find out what's going on.

Yeah, you can sort of substitute yourself for, we used to have this culture process, you know, I mean, sure, it was, you know, perhaps over a couple of times, but you can keep a little loose when you're fighting, you know what I mean?

You can't, you can't, it's just the President, the Congress, and the rest that got to,

and the uses I was just saying around the certain things.

So, very important.

I'll tell you the thing, this is something that some staff member might say, the president ought to go out and answer it and see if I can.

It ought to really be correct for somebody down there in that Congress.

I mean, actually, over the years, there's a group, we've got a group of surgeons.

Maybe he's been helping to make up

Four, you've got Dole, who I want to talk about from time to time.

He's got an egg that we use.

He's got Bush.

And I just get a group of those guys in contact with him.

And we're in a house together.

Tells me I like to be behind him sometimes.

I mean, you know, I don't want to hurt any other senator, but let's do it with me.

I think it goes so far as to take the gun and bring it through the process and say the President ought to come down.

He should.

I mean, he should actually.

That's just beyond the pale of the eye.

Beyond the pale of the eye.

I know it can't be done, but they should take that from the start.

Yes, sir.

What do you know of that?

Well, that's, send them our statement.

They've got our statement.

Oh, sure.

I would say this is a, this is a, this is a, we've got to get some tough lines.

It's shocking.

Are you shocking right now?

It's shocking.

Ridiculous.

It's a shock.

It's a, it's a shock.

I guess when they get the information that there's a lady from the Grand Jury, that's a little stuck.

I mean, it's obvious that she's from the Grand Jury, but I don't particularly get to the point that this is typical of the area.

Congress, and now in the court of the Granger, and Congress of the Granger, as well as the media, has gotten completely out of bounds.

They're stricter than the Congress of the Granger.

They all, every responsible reporter in the room knows it.

Every congressman in the Senate knows it.

The President knows it.

It looks like they're playing politics with the judicial system.

Playing politics with the judicial system.

Playing partisan politics.

Maybe something like that.

Okay.

I think I was ready.

Yeah, go ahead.

I told you to come in.

Good luck.

We're not going to focus on this.

Well, we've got to get it done.

You'll be all right.

But the Kissinger thing, I think, will go well.

Yeah, and Henry should just walk out there.

I told him that.

Just walk out there and say, fellas, I'm not going to get into this.

You requested it.

I'm not talking about the company.

I'm talking about the Soviet Union.

And then when they come in on the national stage,

Partially, that's all.

That's all.

That confidentiality is essential or indispensable to the success of the great, our great success of the past and the future.

And that's all.

And that's all we're going to say.

That's why we're going to take our time.