Deep Throat outet sich
Es war eines der am besten gehüteten Geheimnisse: Wer war "Deep Throat", jener ominöse, an den Mafia Porno-Film erinnernden Informant der Watergate-Enthüller Bob Woodward und Carl Bernstein? Über dreißig Jahre nach der Affäre, die US-Präsident Richard Nixon zu Fall brachte, soll sich der große Unbekannte jetzt geoutet haben.
Begleitend zu diesem Bericht:
Er, "Deep Throat", ist die geheimnisvolle Regierungsquelle der USA, die vor über 30 Jahren die Watergate Affäre auffliegen ließ und so den amerikanischen Präsidenten Richard Nixon zu Fall brachte. Deep Throat ist schlechthin das bestgehütete Geheimnis des Journalismus. Dank ihm wurden die beiden Washington Post Reporter Bob Woodward und Carl Bernstein zu den unangefochtenen Stars des Investigativen Journalismus, sie gelten gar als Begründer dieses Genres.
Watergate: Die Affäre
In der Nacht des 17. Juni 1972 wurde eine Gruppe von fünf Männern verhaftet, nachdem sie in das Hauptquartier der demokratischen Partei im Watergate-Gebäude in Washington, D.C. eingebrochen waren und dort Abhörgeräte installierten. Offensichtlich war es der zweite Einbruch, die ersten Mikrofone funktionierten nicht richtig. Diese Männer waren Bernard Baker, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, James W. McCord, Jr. und Frank Sturgis. Die Beteiligung McCords, der mit dem Komitee zur Wiederwahl des Präsidenten in Verbindung stand, sorgte für Spekulationen über eine Verstrickung des Weißen Hauses in dieses Verbrechen. Und tatsächlich, selbst Nixon wusste von der kriminellen Tat.
CIA eingeschaltet um Ermittlungen des FBI zu verschleppen
Präsident Nixons Sekretär Ron Ziegler jedoch dementierte dies, und bezeichnete den Einbruch als „drittrangig“. Bei der Verlesung der Anklage identifizierte sich McCord als ehemaliges Mitglied des Geheimdienstes CIA, was das Interesse zweier Journalisten der Washington Post erregte, die bei der Verhandlung anwesend waren. Diese beiden Journalisten waren Bob Woodward und Carl Bernstein. Sie begannen, mit Rückendeckung ihres Chefredakteurs Ben Bradlee, unermüdlich die Fakten zu den verhafteten Männern freizulegen. Deep Throat half ihnen dabei indem er die jeweiligen Recherche-Ergebnisse bestätigte oder ihnen sagte, wenn sie auf der falschen Fährte waren. Der Präsident schaltete inzwischen die CIA ein, um die Ermittlungen der Bundespolizei FBI zu verschleppen, indem nationale Sicherheitsinteressen geltend gemacht werden sollten. Am 30. April war Nixon gezwungen, zwei seiner mächtigsten Berater zum Rücktritt zu bewegen: H. R. "Bob" Haldeman (Stabschef im Weißen Haus) und John Ehrlichman (Berater für innere Angelegenheiten). Beide wurden kurze Zeit später zu Gefängnisstrafen verurteilt. Nixon entließ ebenfalls den Rechtsberater des Weißen Hauses John W. Dean, der kurz zuvor vor dem Senat ausgesagt hatte, und später zu einem Schlüsselzeugen gegen Nixon selbst werden sollte. Am selben Tag benannte Nixon mit Elliot Richardson einen neuen Justizminister und gab ihm die Autorität, einen speziellen Ermittler für die wachsenden Ermittlungen in der Watergate-Affäre einzusetzen. Um seine Unabhängigkeit zu gewährleisten, war dieser Ermittler nicht dem Justizministerium unterstellt.
Die Tonbänder
Die Anhörungen, die vom Watergate-Komitee des US-Senats durchgeführt wurden und in denen Dean als Starzeuge neben vielen anderen ehemaligen Schlüsselpersonen der Nixon-Administration ein verheerendes Zeugnis ablegte, wurden fast während des gesamten Sommers 1973 im Fernsehen übertragen und verursachten einen katastrophalen politischen Schaden für Nixon. Die Ermittler des Senats entdeckten am 16. Juli eine ausschlaggebende Tatsache: Alexander Butterfield sagte, dass ein Tonbandsystem im Weißen Haus automatisch alles aufzeichnete, was im Oval Office gesprochen wurde. Diese Tonbandaufnahmen könnten zeigen, ob Nixon oder Dean die Wahrheit über die Schlüsseltreffen im Weißen Haus aussagten. Die Bänder wurden daraufhin sowohl von Cox als auch vom Senat zur Beschlagnahme verlangt. Im Januar 1974 verweigerte Nixon jedoch die Aushändigung der verlangten Materialien. Während Nixon weiterhin die Übergabe der Bänder verweigerte, stimmte er der Übergabe von Abschriften einer großen Zahl von Bändern zu.
Plan zur Blockierung der Ermittlungen durch fiktive Gründe der nationalen Sicherheit schmieden: Nixon & Haldeman
Sie bestätigten zum größten Teil die Aussagen Deans und führten zu weiterer Erschütterung, als entdeckt wurde, dass ein entscheidender Teil eines Tonbandes, das niemals den Gewahrsam des Weißen Hauses verlassen hatte, gelöscht worden war. Im August wurde ein zuvor unbekanntes Tonband vom 23. Juni 1972, also nur wenige Tage nach dem Watergate-Einbruch, publik, worin Nixon und sein Stabschef Haldeman den Plan zur Blockierung der Ermittlungen durch fiktive Gründe der nationalen Sicherheit schmiedeten. Dieses Band wurde als "Smoking Gun", also als rauchender Colt, bezeichnet. Aufgrund der Last dieses letzten Beweisstücks wurde Nixon nun auch von seinen letzten verbleibenden Anhängern im Stich gelassen. Die 10 Kongressabgeordneten, die zuvor gegen den Amtsenthebungsartikel im Ausschuss gestimmt hatten, kündigten nun an, dass sie die Amtsenthebung unterstützen würden. Nachdem die republikanischen Senatoren Nixon mitgeteilt hatten, dass eine Mehrheit für eine Verurteilung stand, entschied sich Nixon zurückzutreten. Am 9. August 1974 trat Richard Milhous Nixon als 37. Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten zurück.
Smoking Gun Transkript
TRANSCRIPT OF A RECORDING OF A MEETING BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT ND H.R. ALDEMAN IN THE OVAL OFFICE ON JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
HALDEMAN: okay -that's fine. Now, on the investigation, you know, the Democratic break-in thing, we're back to the-in the, the problem area because the FBI is not under control, because Gray doesn't exactly know how to control them, and they have, their investigation is now leading into some productive areas, because they've been able to trace the money, not through the money itself, but through the bank, you know, sources - the banker himself. And, and it goes in some directions we don't want it to go. Ah, also there have been some things, like an informant came in off the street to the FBI in Miami, who was a photographer or has a friend who is a photographer who developed some films through this guy, Barker, and the films had pictures of Democratic National Committee letter head documents and things. So I guess, so it's things like that that are gonna, that are filtering in. Mitchell came up with yesterday, and John Dean analyzed very carefully last night and concludes, concurs now with Mitchell's recommendation that the only way to solve this, and we're set up beautifully to do it, ah, in that and that...the only network that paid any attention to it last night was NBC...they did a massive story on the Cuban...
PRESIDENT: That's right.
HALDEMAN: thing.
PRESIDENT: Right.
HALDEMAN: That the way to handle this now is for us to have Walters call Pat Gray and just say, "Stay the hell out of this...this is ah, business here we don't want you to go any further on it." That's not an unusual development,...
PRESIDENT: Um huh.
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
HALDEMAN: ...and, uh, that would take care of it.
PRESIDENT: What about Pat Gray, ah, you mean he doesn't want to?
HALDEMAN: Pat does want to. He doesn't know how to, and he doesn't have, he doesn't have any basis for doing it. Given this, he will then have the basis. He'll call Mark Felt in, and the two of them ...and Mark Felt wants to cooperate because...
PRESIDENT: Yeah.
HALDEMAN: he's ambitious...
PRESIDENT: Yeah.
HALDEMAN: Ah, he'll call him in and say, "We've got the signal from across the river to, to put the hold on this." And that will fit rather well because the FBI agents who are working the case, at this point, feel that's what it is. This is CIA.
PRESIDENT: But they've traced the money to 'em.
HALDEMAN: Well they have, they've traced to a name, but they haven't gotten to the guy yet. PRESIDENT: Would it be somebody here?
HALDEMAN: Ken Dahlberg.
PRESIDENT: Who the hell is Ken Dahlberg?
HALDEMAN: He's ah, he gave $25,000 in Minnesota and ah, the check went directly in to this, to this guy Barker.
PRESIDENT: Maybe he's a ...bum.
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
PRESIDENT: He didn't get this from the committee though, from Stans.
HALDEMAN: Yeah. It is. It is. It's directly traceable and there's some more through some Texas people in--that went to the Mexican bank which they can also trace to the Mexican bank...they'll get their names today. And pause)
PRESIDENT: Well, I mean, ah, there's no way... I'm just thinking if they don't cooperate, what do they say? They they, they were approached by the Cubans. That's what Dahlberg has to say, the Texans too. Is that the idea?
HALDEMAN: Well, if they will. But then we're relying on more and more people all the time. That's the problem. And ah, they'll stop if we could, if we take this other step.
PRESIDENT: All right. Fine.
HALDEMAN: And, and they seem to feel the thing to do is get them to stop?
PRESIDENT: Right, fine.
HALDEMAN: They say the only way to do that is from White House instructions. And it's got to be to Helms and, ah, what's his name...? Walters.
PRESIDENT: Walters.
HALDEMAN: And the proposal would be that Ehrlichman (coughs) and I call them in
PRESIDENT: All right, fine.
HALDEMAN: and say, ah...
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
PRESIDENT: How do you call him in, I mean you just, well, we protected Helms from one hell of a lot of things.
HALDEMAN: That's what Ehrlichman says.
PRESIDENT: Of course, this is a, this is a Hunt, you will-that will uncover a lot of things. You open that scab there's a hell of a lot of things and that we just feel that it would be very detrimental to have this thing go any further. This involves these Cubans, Hunt, and a lot of hanky-panky that we have nothing to do with ourselves. Well what the hell, did Mitchell know about this thing to any much of a degree?
HALDEMAN: I think so. I don 't think he knew the details, but I think he knew.
PRESIDENT: He didn't know how it was going to be handled though, with Dahlberg and the Texans and so forth? Well who was the asshole that did? (Unintelligible) Is it Liddy? Is that the fellow? He must be a little nuts.
HALDEMAN: He is.
PRESIDENT: I mean he just isn't well screwed on is he? Isn't that the problem?
HALDEMAN: No, but he was under pressure, apparently, to get more information, and as he got more pressure, he pushed the people harder to move harder on...
PRESIDENT: Pressure from Mitchell?
HALDEMAN: Apparently.
PRESIDENT: Oh, Mitchell, Mitchell was at the point that you made on this, that exactly what I need from you is on the--
HALDEMAN: Gemstone, yeah.
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
PRESIDENT: All right, fine, I understand it all. We won't second-guess Mitchell and the rest. Thank God it wasn't Colson.
HALDEMAN: The FBI interviewed Colson yesterday. They determined that would be a good thing to do.
PRESIDENT: Um hum.
HALDEMAN: Ah, to have him take a...
PRESIDENT: Um hum.
HALDEMAN: An interrogation, which he did, and that, the FBI guys working the case had concluded that there were one or two possibilities, one, that this was a White House, they don't think that there is anything at the Election Committee, they think it was either a White House operation and they had some obscure reasons for it, non political,...
PRESIDENT: Uh huh.
HALDEMAN: or it was a...
PRESIDENT: Cuban thing-
HALDEMAN: Cubans and the CIA. And after their interrogation of, of...
PRESIDENT: Colson.
HALDEMAN: Colson, yesterday, they concluded it was not the White House, but are now convinced it is a CIA thing, so the CIA turn off would...
PRESIDENT: Well, not sure of their analysis, I'm not going to get that involved. I'm (unintelligible).
HALDEMAN: No, sir. We don't want you to.
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 to 11:39 AM
**********
PRESIDENT: You call them in.
PRESIDENT: Good. Good deal! Play it tough. That's the way they play it and that's the way we are going to play it.
HALDEMAN: O.K. We'll do it.
PRESIDENT: Yeah, when I saw that news summary item, I of course knew it was a bunch of crap, but I thought ah, well it's good to have them off on this wild hair thing because when they start bugging us, which they have, we'll know our little boys will not know how to handle it. I hope they will though. You never know. Maybe, you think about it. Good!
HALDEMAN: Mosbacher has resigned.
PRESIDENT: Oh yeah?
HALDEMAN: As we expected he would.
PRESIDENT: Yeah.
HALDEMAN: He's going back to private life (unintelligible) Do you want to sign this or should I send it to Rose?
PRESIDENT: Ah, yeah (scratching noise)
HALDEMAN: Do you want to release it?
PRESIDENT: O.K. Great. Good job, Bob.
HALDEMAN: Kissinger?
PRESIDENT: Huh? That's a joke.
HALDEMAN: Is it? Ah, O.K.
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
PRESIDENT: I don't know, maybe it isn't worth going out and talking (unintelligible) Maybe it is.
HALDEMAN: Well, it's a close call. Ah, Ehrlichman though you'd, you probably, he, he...
PRESIDENT: What?
HALDEMAN: Well, he said you probably didn't need it. He didn't think you should, now at all. He said he felt fine doing it.
PRESIDENT: He did? The question, the point is, does he think everybody is going to understand about the bussing?
HALDEMAN: That's right.
PRESIDENT: And, ah, well Lonzo says no.
HALDEMAN: Well, this, the fact is somewhere in between, I think, because I think that is
missing some...
PRESIDENT: Well, if the fact is somewhere in between,
we better do it.
HALDEMAN: Yeah, I think Mitchell says, "Hell yes. Anything we can hit on at anytime we get the chance...and we've got a reason for doing it... do it."
PRESIDENT: When you get in these people when you...get these people in, say: "Look, the problem is that this will open the whole, the whole Bay of Pigs thing, and the President just feels that" ah, without going into the details... don't, don't lie to them to the extent to say there is no involvement, but just say this is sort of a comedy of errors, bizarre, without getting into it, "the President believes that it is going to open the whole Bay of Pigs thing up again. And, ah because these people are plugging for, for keeps and that they should call the FBI in and say that we wish for the country, don't go any further into this case", period!
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10 04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
HALDEMAN: OK
PRESIDENT: That's the way to put it, do it straight (Unintelligible)
HALDEMAN: Get more done for our cause by the opposition than by us at this point.
PRESIDENT: You think so?
HALDEMAN: I think so, yeah.
PRESIDENT: Still (unintelligible) moves (unintelligible)very close election (unintelligible) he keeps saying if he moves a little-
HALDEMAN: They're all... that's the whole thing. The Washington Post said it in it's lead editorial today. Another "McGovern's got to change his position," and that that would be a good thing, that's constructive. Ah, the white wash for change.
PRESIDENT: Post prints the news so they'll say that is perfectly all right.
HALDEMAN: Cause then they are saying...on the other hand... that maybe we're not so smart. We have to admire the progress he's made on the basis of the position he's taken and maybe he's right and we're wrong.
PRESIDENT: To be very (unintelligible) (laughs).
HALDEMAN: Sitting in Miami played into our hand a little bit.
PRESIDENT: No.
HALDEMAN: They, ah eliminated their law prohibiting male homosexuals from wearing female clothing, now the boys can all put on their dresses... so the gay lib is going to turn out 6,000 fags to (laughs). I hope they (unintelligible) them.
PRESIDENT: How did they(unintelligible)
// End of Transcript
Begleitend zu diesem Bericht:
- Im Mp3 Format: Die Smoking Gun Sequenz zwischen Nixon & Haldeman
- Im Printformat: Das Transkript der Smoking Gun Sequenz und diesen Artikel
- Im PDF Format: transcript (pdf, 14 KB)
Er, "Deep Throat", ist die geheimnisvolle Regierungsquelle der USA, die vor über 30 Jahren die Watergate Affäre auffliegen ließ und so den amerikanischen Präsidenten Richard Nixon zu Fall brachte. Deep Throat ist schlechthin das bestgehütete Geheimnis des Journalismus. Dank ihm wurden die beiden Washington Post Reporter Bob Woodward und Carl Bernstein zu den unangefochtenen Stars des Investigativen Journalismus, sie gelten gar als Begründer dieses Genres.
Watergate: Die Affäre
In der Nacht des 17. Juni 1972 wurde eine Gruppe von fünf Männern verhaftet, nachdem sie in das Hauptquartier der demokratischen Partei im Watergate-Gebäude in Washington, D.C. eingebrochen waren und dort Abhörgeräte installierten. Offensichtlich war es der zweite Einbruch, die ersten Mikrofone funktionierten nicht richtig. Diese Männer waren Bernard Baker, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, James W. McCord, Jr. und Frank Sturgis. Die Beteiligung McCords, der mit dem Komitee zur Wiederwahl des Präsidenten in Verbindung stand, sorgte für Spekulationen über eine Verstrickung des Weißen Hauses in dieses Verbrechen. Und tatsächlich, selbst Nixon wusste von der kriminellen Tat.
CIA eingeschaltet um Ermittlungen des FBI zu verschleppen
Präsident Nixons Sekretär Ron Ziegler jedoch dementierte dies, und bezeichnete den Einbruch als „drittrangig“. Bei der Verlesung der Anklage identifizierte sich McCord als ehemaliges Mitglied des Geheimdienstes CIA, was das Interesse zweier Journalisten der Washington Post erregte, die bei der Verhandlung anwesend waren. Diese beiden Journalisten waren Bob Woodward und Carl Bernstein. Sie begannen, mit Rückendeckung ihres Chefredakteurs Ben Bradlee, unermüdlich die Fakten zu den verhafteten Männern freizulegen. Deep Throat half ihnen dabei indem er die jeweiligen Recherche-Ergebnisse bestätigte oder ihnen sagte, wenn sie auf der falschen Fährte waren. Der Präsident schaltete inzwischen die CIA ein, um die Ermittlungen der Bundespolizei FBI zu verschleppen, indem nationale Sicherheitsinteressen geltend gemacht werden sollten. Am 30. April war Nixon gezwungen, zwei seiner mächtigsten Berater zum Rücktritt zu bewegen: H. R. "Bob" Haldeman (Stabschef im Weißen Haus) und John Ehrlichman (Berater für innere Angelegenheiten). Beide wurden kurze Zeit später zu Gefängnisstrafen verurteilt. Nixon entließ ebenfalls den Rechtsberater des Weißen Hauses John W. Dean, der kurz zuvor vor dem Senat ausgesagt hatte, und später zu einem Schlüsselzeugen gegen Nixon selbst werden sollte. Am selben Tag benannte Nixon mit Elliot Richardson einen neuen Justizminister und gab ihm die Autorität, einen speziellen Ermittler für die wachsenden Ermittlungen in der Watergate-Affäre einzusetzen. Um seine Unabhängigkeit zu gewährleisten, war dieser Ermittler nicht dem Justizministerium unterstellt.
Die Tonbänder
Die Anhörungen, die vom Watergate-Komitee des US-Senats durchgeführt wurden und in denen Dean als Starzeuge neben vielen anderen ehemaligen Schlüsselpersonen der Nixon-Administration ein verheerendes Zeugnis ablegte, wurden fast während des gesamten Sommers 1973 im Fernsehen übertragen und verursachten einen katastrophalen politischen Schaden für Nixon. Die Ermittler des Senats entdeckten am 16. Juli eine ausschlaggebende Tatsache: Alexander Butterfield sagte, dass ein Tonbandsystem im Weißen Haus automatisch alles aufzeichnete, was im Oval Office gesprochen wurde. Diese Tonbandaufnahmen könnten zeigen, ob Nixon oder Dean die Wahrheit über die Schlüsseltreffen im Weißen Haus aussagten. Die Bänder wurden daraufhin sowohl von Cox als auch vom Senat zur Beschlagnahme verlangt. Im Januar 1974 verweigerte Nixon jedoch die Aushändigung der verlangten Materialien. Während Nixon weiterhin die Übergabe der Bänder verweigerte, stimmte er der Übergabe von Abschriften einer großen Zahl von Bändern zu.
Plan zur Blockierung der Ermittlungen durch fiktive Gründe der nationalen Sicherheit schmieden: Nixon & Haldeman
Sie bestätigten zum größten Teil die Aussagen Deans und führten zu weiterer Erschütterung, als entdeckt wurde, dass ein entscheidender Teil eines Tonbandes, das niemals den Gewahrsam des Weißen Hauses verlassen hatte, gelöscht worden war. Im August wurde ein zuvor unbekanntes Tonband vom 23. Juni 1972, also nur wenige Tage nach dem Watergate-Einbruch, publik, worin Nixon und sein Stabschef Haldeman den Plan zur Blockierung der Ermittlungen durch fiktive Gründe der nationalen Sicherheit schmiedeten. Dieses Band wurde als "Smoking Gun", also als rauchender Colt, bezeichnet. Aufgrund der Last dieses letzten Beweisstücks wurde Nixon nun auch von seinen letzten verbleibenden Anhängern im Stich gelassen. Die 10 Kongressabgeordneten, die zuvor gegen den Amtsenthebungsartikel im Ausschuss gestimmt hatten, kündigten nun an, dass sie die Amtsenthebung unterstützen würden. Nachdem die republikanischen Senatoren Nixon mitgeteilt hatten, dass eine Mehrheit für eine Verurteilung stand, entschied sich Nixon zurückzutreten. Am 9. August 1974 trat Richard Milhous Nixon als 37. Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten zurück.
Smoking Gun Transkript
TRANSCRIPT OF A RECORDING OF A MEETING BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT ND H.R. ALDEMAN IN THE OVAL OFFICE ON JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
HALDEMAN: okay -that's fine. Now, on the investigation, you know, the Democratic break-in thing, we're back to the-in the, the problem area because the FBI is not under control, because Gray doesn't exactly know how to control them, and they have, their investigation is now leading into some productive areas, because they've been able to trace the money, not through the money itself, but through the bank, you know, sources - the banker himself. And, and it goes in some directions we don't want it to go. Ah, also there have been some things, like an informant came in off the street to the FBI in Miami, who was a photographer or has a friend who is a photographer who developed some films through this guy, Barker, and the films had pictures of Democratic National Committee letter head documents and things. So I guess, so it's things like that that are gonna, that are filtering in. Mitchell came up with yesterday, and John Dean analyzed very carefully last night and concludes, concurs now with Mitchell's recommendation that the only way to solve this, and we're set up beautifully to do it, ah, in that and that...the only network that paid any attention to it last night was NBC...they did a massive story on the Cuban...
PRESIDENT: That's right.
HALDEMAN: thing.
PRESIDENT: Right.
HALDEMAN: That the way to handle this now is for us to have Walters call Pat Gray and just say, "Stay the hell out of this...this is ah, business here we don't want you to go any further on it." That's not an unusual development,...
PRESIDENT: Um huh.
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
HALDEMAN: ...and, uh, that would take care of it.
PRESIDENT: What about Pat Gray, ah, you mean he doesn't want to?
HALDEMAN: Pat does want to. He doesn't know how to, and he doesn't have, he doesn't have any basis for doing it. Given this, he will then have the basis. He'll call Mark Felt in, and the two of them ...and Mark Felt wants to cooperate because...
PRESIDENT: Yeah.
HALDEMAN: he's ambitious...
PRESIDENT: Yeah.
HALDEMAN: Ah, he'll call him in and say, "We've got the signal from across the river to, to put the hold on this." And that will fit rather well because the FBI agents who are working the case, at this point, feel that's what it is. This is CIA.
PRESIDENT: But they've traced the money to 'em.
HALDEMAN: Well they have, they've traced to a name, but they haven't gotten to the guy yet. PRESIDENT: Would it be somebody here?
HALDEMAN: Ken Dahlberg.
PRESIDENT: Who the hell is Ken Dahlberg?
HALDEMAN: He's ah, he gave $25,000 in Minnesota and ah, the check went directly in to this, to this guy Barker.
PRESIDENT: Maybe he's a ...bum.
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
PRESIDENT: He didn't get this from the committee though, from Stans.
HALDEMAN: Yeah. It is. It is. It's directly traceable and there's some more through some Texas people in--that went to the Mexican bank which they can also trace to the Mexican bank...they'll get their names today. And pause)
PRESIDENT: Well, I mean, ah, there's no way... I'm just thinking if they don't cooperate, what do they say? They they, they were approached by the Cubans. That's what Dahlberg has to say, the Texans too. Is that the idea?
HALDEMAN: Well, if they will. But then we're relying on more and more people all the time. That's the problem. And ah, they'll stop if we could, if we take this other step.
PRESIDENT: All right. Fine.
HALDEMAN: And, and they seem to feel the thing to do is get them to stop?
PRESIDENT: Right, fine.
HALDEMAN: They say the only way to do that is from White House instructions. And it's got to be to Helms and, ah, what's his name...? Walters.
PRESIDENT: Walters.
HALDEMAN: And the proposal would be that Ehrlichman (coughs) and I call them in
PRESIDENT: All right, fine.
HALDEMAN: and say, ah...
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
PRESIDENT: How do you call him in, I mean you just, well, we protected Helms from one hell of a lot of things.
HALDEMAN: That's what Ehrlichman says.
PRESIDENT: Of course, this is a, this is a Hunt, you will-that will uncover a lot of things. You open that scab there's a hell of a lot of things and that we just feel that it would be very detrimental to have this thing go any further. This involves these Cubans, Hunt, and a lot of hanky-panky that we have nothing to do with ourselves. Well what the hell, did Mitchell know about this thing to any much of a degree?
HALDEMAN: I think so. I don 't think he knew the details, but I think he knew.
PRESIDENT: He didn't know how it was going to be handled though, with Dahlberg and the Texans and so forth? Well who was the asshole that did? (Unintelligible) Is it Liddy? Is that the fellow? He must be a little nuts.
HALDEMAN: He is.
PRESIDENT: I mean he just isn't well screwed on is he? Isn't that the problem?
HALDEMAN: No, but he was under pressure, apparently, to get more information, and as he got more pressure, he pushed the people harder to move harder on...
PRESIDENT: Pressure from Mitchell?
HALDEMAN: Apparently.
PRESIDENT: Oh, Mitchell, Mitchell was at the point that you made on this, that exactly what I need from you is on the--
HALDEMAN: Gemstone, yeah.
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
PRESIDENT: All right, fine, I understand it all. We won't second-guess Mitchell and the rest. Thank God it wasn't Colson.
HALDEMAN: The FBI interviewed Colson yesterday. They determined that would be a good thing to do.
PRESIDENT: Um hum.
HALDEMAN: Ah, to have him take a...
PRESIDENT: Um hum.
HALDEMAN: An interrogation, which he did, and that, the FBI guys working the case had concluded that there were one or two possibilities, one, that this was a White House, they don't think that there is anything at the Election Committee, they think it was either a White House operation and they had some obscure reasons for it, non political,...
PRESIDENT: Uh huh.
HALDEMAN: or it was a...
PRESIDENT: Cuban thing-
HALDEMAN: Cubans and the CIA. And after their interrogation of, of...
PRESIDENT: Colson.
HALDEMAN: Colson, yesterday, they concluded it was not the White House, but are now convinced it is a CIA thing, so the CIA turn off would...
PRESIDENT: Well, not sure of their analysis, I'm not going to get that involved. I'm (unintelligible).
HALDEMAN: No, sir. We don't want you to.
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 to 11:39 AM
**********
PRESIDENT: You call them in.
PRESIDENT: Good. Good deal! Play it tough. That's the way they play it and that's the way we are going to play it.
HALDEMAN: O.K. We'll do it.
PRESIDENT: Yeah, when I saw that news summary item, I of course knew it was a bunch of crap, but I thought ah, well it's good to have them off on this wild hair thing because when they start bugging us, which they have, we'll know our little boys will not know how to handle it. I hope they will though. You never know. Maybe, you think about it. Good!
HALDEMAN: Mosbacher has resigned.
PRESIDENT: Oh yeah?
HALDEMAN: As we expected he would.
PRESIDENT: Yeah.
HALDEMAN: He's going back to private life (unintelligible) Do you want to sign this or should I send it to Rose?
PRESIDENT: Ah, yeah (scratching noise)
HALDEMAN: Do you want to release it?
PRESIDENT: O.K. Great. Good job, Bob.
HALDEMAN: Kissinger?
PRESIDENT: Huh? That's a joke.
HALDEMAN: Is it? Ah, O.K.
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
PRESIDENT: I don't know, maybe it isn't worth going out and talking (unintelligible) Maybe it is.
HALDEMAN: Well, it's a close call. Ah, Ehrlichman though you'd, you probably, he, he...
PRESIDENT: What?
HALDEMAN: Well, he said you probably didn't need it. He didn't think you should, now at all. He said he felt fine doing it.
PRESIDENT: He did? The question, the point is, does he think everybody is going to understand about the bussing?
HALDEMAN: That's right.
PRESIDENT: And, ah, well Lonzo says no.
HALDEMAN: Well, this, the fact is somewhere in between, I think, because I think that is
missing some...
PRESIDENT: Well, if the fact is somewhere in between,
we better do it.
HALDEMAN: Yeah, I think Mitchell says, "Hell yes. Anything we can hit on at anytime we get the chance...and we've got a reason for doing it... do it."
PRESIDENT: When you get in these people when you...get these people in, say: "Look, the problem is that this will open the whole, the whole Bay of Pigs thing, and the President just feels that" ah, without going into the details... don't, don't lie to them to the extent to say there is no involvement, but just say this is sort of a comedy of errors, bizarre, without getting into it, "the President believes that it is going to open the whole Bay of Pigs thing up again. And, ah because these people are plugging for, for keeps and that they should call the FBI in and say that we wish for the country, don't go any further into this case", period!
JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10 04 TO 11:39 AM
**********
HALDEMAN: OK
PRESIDENT: That's the way to put it, do it straight (Unintelligible)
HALDEMAN: Get more done for our cause by the opposition than by us at this point.
PRESIDENT: You think so?
HALDEMAN: I think so, yeah.
PRESIDENT: Still (unintelligible) moves (unintelligible)very close election (unintelligible) he keeps saying if he moves a little-
HALDEMAN: They're all... that's the whole thing. The Washington Post said it in it's lead editorial today. Another "McGovern's got to change his position," and that that would be a good thing, that's constructive. Ah, the white wash for change.
PRESIDENT: Post prints the news so they'll say that is perfectly all right.
HALDEMAN: Cause then they are saying...on the other hand... that maybe we're not so smart. We have to admire the progress he's made on the basis of the position he's taken and maybe he's right and we're wrong.
PRESIDENT: To be very (unintelligible) (laughs).
HALDEMAN: Sitting in Miami played into our hand a little bit.
PRESIDENT: No.
HALDEMAN: They, ah eliminated their law prohibiting male homosexuals from wearing female clothing, now the boys can all put on their dresses... so the gay lib is going to turn out 6,000 fags to (laughs). I hope they (unintelligible) them.
PRESIDENT: How did they(unintelligible)
// End of Transcript
sfux - 31. Mai, 22:40 Article 8581x read
