The Nation: The Evidence: Fitting the Pieces Together

(3 of 8)

Less than three weeks after the arrest of the Watergate wiretappers, the possibility of granting them Executive clemency was discussed by the President and Ehrlichman. Ehrlichman later recalled before a Watergate grand jury that he held a "very long, rambling conversation" with the President on or about July 4, 1972. Testified Ehrlichman: "We talked about the Watergate defendants, and I raised the point with the President that presidential pardons or something of that kind inevitably would be a question that he would have to confront." Ehrlichman added in his testimony that Nixon expressed the "firm view [that] he would never be in a position to grant a pardon or any form of clemency in this case." Despite Ehrlichman's report that Nixon rejected clemency, the conversation raises a sticky question for the White House: Why did Ehrlichman feel that the question of Executive clemency would "inevitably" come up over what was then being described by Nixon's spokesmen as a "third-rate burglary"?

That question indeed occurred to an assistant special Watergate prosecutor, Richard Ben-Veniste. Logically, one Watergate defendant that the White House should have been worried about was G. Gordon Liddy, then a fairly high official of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President. Ehrlichman testified that he knew by June 20 that Liddy had headed the Watergate break-in team. Yet Ehrlichman told Ben-Veniste that he did not inform the President of Liddy's role.

Q. Now when was the first time that you were aware that the President was aware that Liddy had an involvement?

A. I don't know.

Q. Was the President aware of that by the Fourth of July [1972]?

A. I haven't any idea.

Q. Was he aware of it before the 10th of July, based on your long and very complete discussions with him on the 6th 7th and 8th of July?

A. I don't know.

Then, moments later, Ben-Veniste asked incredulously:

Q. And are you testifying that you were aware of that and you had conversations with the President about the possibilities of Executive clemency for these people, and you just omitted to tell the President that the general counsel for the finance committee [Liddy] had admitted to Dean that it was his operation?

Nixon's Involvement Deepens

The most damaging material concerns the events of March 1973. President Nixon has repeatedly stated that it was only on March 21 that he first learned, from Dean, of the Watergate coverup. There are strong indications in the new evidence that the President discussed the cover-up at least eight days before March 21. More incriminating still is material showing that President Nixon perpetuated the cover-up rather than launching a complete investigation, as he has frequently claimed he did.

The Judiciary Committee's version of a March 13 conversation between Nixon and Dean shows clearly, as do the transcripts issued by the White House, that the President was then aware of perjury by Gordon Strachan, Haldeman's top aide. The President on that day also explicitly rejected the "hang-out road" — meaning a complete disclosure.