Nothing that has happened since has changed that picture. And hes a very interesting character. Interesting isnt the right word. I did my best to undermine him. What did you do other than find john oneil . Probably called veterans organization. It was no black operation. I passed on information to reporters and others information that wasnt complimentary. Hes got this idea that i ran this big campaign. He said this in the 2004 electi election, he said the bush people are pulling all the stops out against me, now i have chuck dolson working against me. Bush had some long conversations with him. I wasnt involved in the campaign. Do not believe as a religious leader i should be involved in the campaign. Tell you what kind of a guy kerry is. This is interesting. May not be interesting. I went to the National Prayer breakfast in the early 90s. The speaker is never announced until the last moment. The speaker was announced john kerry. Kerry came in the mid 90s, and i was sitting two tables f
Garman. Hague said, bob, the president wants you to argue this case in the Supreme Court on the tapes. I said i cant. I said, well, because jawarski is a member of the department of justice, and i have been on his i have necessarily been on his side. If i switch sides and oppose him, my next argument is going to be before the character and Fitness Committee dealing with the state bar as to why i shouldnt be disbarred. I cant start arguing the case on both sides. So st. Claire then said that this is where i kind of lost some respect for st. Claire. He said, hey, walk the way, muttering something about technicalities. St. Claire leaned over and said, i think youre right. I said tell him so. He said maybe i will some day. That struck me as not the most standup position i had heard in a while. Just so were clear, you felt that it was right to fire cox because the president had the authority to do so . The authority to do so and i thought he had good reason to do so. Because of the press co
Thats not what it was about. Okay. You guys want to pick up the point about the bay of pigs . You want to start . Go for it. All ill say is, nixon was i read the question a couple different ways. Nisksson was often interested to ask his people, could we release some prior records from president s kennedy and johnson that he thought would look embarrassing to him. And he wanted the bay of pigs records themselves out. It was not a high moment for kennedy foreign policy. So i think nixon does talk, does scheme at times to release records out about democrats, and predecessors that he thought would make them look worse and him look better. Let me add one thing about the kennedy assassination. I had the privilege of getting to interview gerald ford. He became president 40 years ago. And president ford, ill always remember, he called me over, i did my interview and he said, come here. I went over, and he said, you see this stack . He had a huge stack of papers. I said yes. He said, you see th
Kind of informing was taking place. They were untrained informers. March 8, 1971, the breakin. When did J Edgar Hoover die . May, 1972. Here is some video from the New York Times website. It is by an outfit called retro report that has done a little documentary. It is the greatest heist you have never heard of and one of the most important. Last night, someone broke into the fbi offices, stole some records and mailed copies around to several newspapers. Those records would help bring an end to J Edgar Hoovers secret activities within the fbi. He ordered his agents not only to expose new left groups, but to take action against them, to neutralize them. Many americans were tapped, bug, had their mail open by the cia and fbi. The burglars were never caught. The details have remained a mystery until now. How did you find out about all this . Two different points. At the very beginning and then many years later. The first connection i had was that i was the first reporter to receive and wri
Night, J Edgar Hoovers fbi operated in total secrecy. Americans didnt really know what the fbi was doing, that there was a public fbi and a secret fbi. Everything changed. What one thing do you remember that bothered you the most when you found out about the secret fbi . Can i name two . First, one is from the first set of stolen file that i received when i was a reporter at the Washington Post. It was the very first document. It was an instruction to agents to act in such a way that they would enhance the paranoia and also make people think there was an fbi agent behind every mailbox. That was a really striking thing to find, the kind of thing that most people would not think was placed in a file. That did have a shocking effect when he came public. There are so many things that are very interesting and that the public found very upsetting. I think in the end what i found most upsetting, was the massive surveillance in two ways. First, the massive surveillance that was taking place in