Justice department they called my office and said cant you do something about this guy up here . And, yes, i was able to call in the attorney general and deal with him that sort of thing. But were not were just aware because for time reasons, i often had to follow Major Supreme Court decisions to see and i knew when they were going to come down and get the slip opinion because nixon would need particularly as a lawyer, would want to be able to respond even before the department of justice could crank the papers around and get a summary of it out. We would have to have it, boom, get an opinion from the court and have somebody to Say Something about the opinion so we followed cases before the court. But as far as getting into the areas like the plumbers, we were excluded totally from that operation. And for good reason. And ill explain that. After the pentagon papers leaked, as you know from the record there was a major thrust by nixon to deal with ellsberg and make a political as well a
Administration. As for him is about 90 minutes. Moderator tell us your reaction when you hear about the breakin. John i had been in manila giving a speech for the bureau of narcotics. The Drug Enforcement agency becomes later. It was a graduation speech for a bunch of agents who had been trained by dea. And i got back, crossing the date line was always a body twister. I was lying back and i arrived in San Francisco feeling jetlagged badly. I call my deputy and said im going to stay in San Francisco and just rest today and come back tomorrow. This on a sunday night. He said i think you better come back. There has been some activities here that you should know about. Fred wouldnt say that if it wasnt serious. I met with fred, who lived down the street from me in old town. He tells me about this arrest at the dnc. My reaction is colson. I am thinking back to brookings, all that. This sounds like colson has gone crazy again. The next morning it doesnt take me very long when jed mcgruder ca
Matters were collectively. Bud said i agree totally. I said i dont want to cause a lot of grief for everybody but the president is not being well advised and these activities he said i believe my instruction came directly out of the oval office. Bud later did not support that memory that i so vividly remember when he gave it at the moment. Whether he was doing that to bolster my drive to get in there and get the president to get his feet on the ground or whether it was an actual fact, i dont know. Maybe he doesnt remember to this day. As you piece together after the fact, the trials that occurred when ehrlichman was convicted for that, ehrlichman would later claim that he had a conversation, ironically, on the beach outside of the taping devices in san clemente with the president about a lot of activities of that nature. Who knows . I dont know. I have found in my own historical inquiry from time to time into issues when i have used the tapes that nixon had a very steady practice of se
Nixon president ial Library Director, explains why article ii was at the heart. Vote continues to shape our understanding of president ial power. Isjoining us from new york tim naftali who is the director of the library at New York University and former nixon president ial Library Director. Thank you for being with us. We want to go back 40 years ago as the house was beginning to debate article ii of impeachment, the abuse of power. I want to have you set up a what was happening within this congressional meeting. Was a very important of the of the drama constitutional crisis. The second article is all about president ial abuse of power. And that got at the heart of what the framers were actually thinking about when they chose ofput the possibilities impeachment into the constitution. The did they have a broad sense of what should be the reason . Or were they trying to seek a reason . Could you remove a president just for being a bad president . Caucus andrepublican also within the Demo
Me begin by saying that you, mr. Chairman, i think, in a rather difficult assignment although i havent agreed with you on many occasions, i think he wouldve handled herself very well. I can say for the most members of the committee, that during the six months, the seven weeks of looking through the 38 volumes of evidence, the listening to the live witnesses morning, afternoon, and night that i can be proud of my judiciary colleagues, most of them. Leaks,badly about the the selective leaks, some of which i think the newspapers made a mistake in playing. I know they have a job to get the news. Let me say, mr. Chairman, i used to like to be on the House Judiciary Committee when we were worried about legal reform juvenile quincy. Delinquency. Trying to improve things that needed improving. Im about to reconsider my assignment, not a we have had amnesty, abortion, impeachment, and now a bomb threat. Those say that im one of who has agonized over this particular inquiry. I think it would be