Moving in Committee and Court

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Chapin also committed perjury, the jury decided, in denying that he had directed Segretti to concentrate his attack on Senator Muskie. As the presidential primary elections began in early 1972, Muskie was the leading Democratic candidate. The presiding judge dismissed a third perjury count and the jury acquitted Chapin on a fourth. Basically, Chapin's defense rested on his inability to recall in detail his dealings with Segretti; he denied any intent to mislead the grand jury. The 17th former Nixon agent convicted of a crime, Chapin faces a maximum—but highly unlikely—sentence often years in prison.

¶ A federal grand jury in Washington returned the first indictment in its probe of the Nixon Administration's settlement of an antitrust suit against ITT after the corporation had pledged up to $400,000 to help finance the 1972 Republican National Convention. Ed Reinecke, the Republican Lieutenant Governor of California, was charged with three counts of perjury in testimony he gave on April 19, 1972, at the confirmation hearings for Attorney General Richard Kleindienst. The charges center on Reinecke's claim that he had told the previous Attorney General, John Mitchell, about the ITT offer only after the Justice Department's settlement with ITT—a key point on whether the pledge influenced the Government's decision to settle. Since Mitchell has sworn under oath that he knew nothing of the offer until well after the settlement, he, too, seems likely to be indicted by the grand jury.

The indictment of Reinecke was probably a fatal blow to his hopes of becoming the Republican candidate to succeed California Governor Ronald Reagan, who is not seeking re-election this year. But Reinecke insisted last week: "I did not lie. I am innocent. I intend to fight this action."

¶ In its' investigation of illegal campaign contributions. Prosecutor Jaworski's staff threw the book at American Ship Building Co. and its chairman and chief executive officer, George M. Steinbrenner III. A federal grand jury in Cleveland charged the corporation with conspiracy and making illegal contributions. It indicted Steinbrenner, the major owner of the New York Yankees, on four counts of obstruction of justice, two of obstruction of a criminal investigation, two of aiding and abetting individuals to make false statements to the FBI, one of conspiracy and five of illegal campaign contributions. The indictment contends that Steinbrenner led a scheme of giving bonuses to executives of the corporation, demanding that the individuals send this money to political candidates and ordering them to lie about this and destroy records when the transactions came under scrutiny. The donations included $56,200 to Nixon's reelection campaign and another $51,800 to various senatorial and congressional candidates of both parties.