Folder 9/19: Wiretaps

8/3/2019 Folder 9/19: Wiretaps

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(Wil l iam) Beecher(Ni tA.., SheehanHe ll(h::ick SmithOverhearings wou l d be disclosed

I.ttl B040& !Scan 2i Ih iieJ!llJig hi: de: iZ&211l1 0 I 1 8 u ] S dU ' 2112GB liSt w1teLaps USISdisease eli I ' .,hi a 1 ft Lillg?(3) 00 you reca l l Mr , Mardian l is t ing any namesof people tapped or overhear d , other than Messr s .Beecher , She ehan, and Smith?(4 ) Did Ma r dian have wi th him a l i s t ofpeople who had been wiretapped?(5 ) Did Mardian s tate tha t overhearings wouldbe '10010'.'"'- J J ~ . . r .floP t., ..Ii,r //'7/'1'~ f ~ .srh.",- ,.... .;t....rf-(6) Did ~ ~ , Mardi an s tate tha t the Jus t ice Depart -til:,. _ ment expecte 'd. El l sberg ' s attorney to f i le motions

f ~ ~ ~ r equiring overhears to be disclosed?,,,rJ f : ; ~ ( 7 ) Did Mr , Mardian s tate tha t he expected tha t~ ( at torneys for Mess r s . Beecher , Sheehan or Smith

t would f i le motions r equiring overhears to be diac l ooed?M:"""th is Erma HOOV!!l , "1111w3 8, b",l lh a li ana a Vd } fe w

~ t , s , -" otners in t he fB I and: iJus t ice cepatfIilent kneW abou l ""ca eI},;f"j.rt'l/t wnc t ..p s .",, (/I.A7;: ; ' ; J f (1 ):- P4.;1 We Mardian a l . t e eli a e a hW,ltJUt o f peopiety ; ' '''';n >j re l f " ;a . i ll" lhe PB I weald have t o b@ to ld abOut thUse whe lo l 'S?

Ol d Mr _ I '.ot.J:"4i}n i i"ste t h a t a nw,ibaJ: of fl s ap:t.enr-t::h&: Tps t i c e OSpi:tllinC \Wald naOb tv be La W

III a id flL. Il ....a i .u s la t e th a e a mUtIDd f Of peoplei ll LlLe BO iton an a lAS l e $ 1;1 ,6 . ",.L O t .. oyL , Qil: ' i .eeswoalLl h u e to be tula abOUt Ch@Be wIretaps?

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(4) Did Mr . rlardian, o r anyone e l s e , s t a te t h a tthey feared that these people in the "bureaucracy"would " leak" th e f a c t t h a t these wi re taps h ad occur red?

Ehrlichman's notes re f lec t tha t you stated that variouspeople in one o f th e U.S. Attorney ' s o f f i c e s were " d i s l o y a l ~ __ PIt) rnnf hf " }>V a . J ~ _ V ~ ' ~ ?

(1 ) Were you prompted to make t h i s o b s e r v a t io n /'1&"f'?...J:; .in l i g h t o f th e p o ss i b i l i ty t h a t i f these w ire ta p sbecame known to various people in the Just ice De-par tment and U. S. Attorney ' s O ff i ces some o f thosepeople might be "disloyal " an d would "leak" to the

____________ - f a c t that these wiretaps had occurred?Ehrlichman ' 5 notes go on to indicate tha t Mr. i ' lardian

stated that there were a number of wiretap documents , ~ ~ t t ~ in various f i les and tha t the NSC had some of these documentsand tha t Hr. Ha l deman had some of these documents. Therei s then an inst ruct ion tha t Haldeman should get fromHaig a l l the wiretap d o c u ~ ~ n t s tha t were in NSC f i l e s .Following th i s you s ta te tha t you agree and tha t a l l thewiretap logs should be obtained an d destroyed. I t i s thenstated tha t someone should t e l l Hoover to destroy the wiretapr ecords .

(1) Do you reca l l giving an inst ruct ion toi . r .J -I - c N U 1/destroy the w retap records? - (11 V.. . . , ...

(2) Do you recal l giving an inst ruct ion tha t rt.,.".,..someone should t e l l Hoover to destroy the wiretaprecords?(3) Who was inst ructed to contact Boover?(4) What discussion occurred concerning whetheror not Hoover would agree to destroy the logs?(5) ~ I h a t , i f any , l a ter discussions did you havewith Hoove r concerning the wiretaps or the wiretaprecords?


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Later in the same meeting, it i s s ta ted tha t lIai9 i s toreturn the wiretap records to the FBI and tha t these recordswil l then be given to l1ardian for destruct ion . Irruuediatelyaf te r th i s , it i s s ta ted tha t Haig should request the FBI ,in par t icu lar , Mr . Sull ivan, to destroy a l l the wiretap records.This i s followed by a statement tha t Sull ivan wil l contactMardian concerning the wiretap records .

(1) Do you reca l l tha t the f ina l resolut ion ofth i s meeting was tha t Mr . Hardian and Mr . Su l l ivanwere to cause a l l records of these wiretaps to bedestroyed .As you can see from Mr . Ehrlichman ' s notes , there i s

mention of any dispute between Mr . Sull ivan and DirectorHoover . As your attorneys have informed yo u , there i s someevidence tha t in ear ly August, 1971, there was a concernexpressed by !1r . Mardian to Dr . Kissinger, to the ef fec t t ha tMr . Hoover could not be t rus ted with control of the wiretaprecords . With th i s background, do you now reca l l tha t a tth is July 12, 1971 , meeting - -

(1) The principal concern was tha t "overhearingswould be disclosed" and(2) That any concern abouthow Hoover might "m;e"these wiretap records did not ar r i i e unt i l sometimeaf te r th i s July 12, 1971, date .Also , as you can see from ~ t Ehrlichman ' s notes , the

ins truct ion given with respect to the logs was tha t theyshould be destroyed . and there i s no indication tha t thelogs should be delivered to l1r . Ehrlichman . Your attorneysha ve r e \ ! i e ~ l e d with you the t r ansc r ip t of a tape recordingof an OctOber a , 1971 , meeting tha t yo u had with Mr . l1i tchella nd Mr . Ehrlichman . I t i s clear from tha t t r anscr ipt tha t itwas a t th i s October 8 , 1971 , meeting tha t the decision was

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-made to d e l i v e r the wi re tap records to Nr . Ehrlichrnan.With this background, do you now recal l - ,,:x.( ") 'l' ha t a t t h i s f i r s t meeting with !-Ir. l1ardiiln

the ins t ruct ion given was to destroy the logs an dt h a t sometime l a t e r a d i ~ s i o n was made to give thelogs to Mr. Ehrlichman .

Also during t h a t October B, 1971, meet ing, fir. Ht iche l lrefers to these wiretaps as being "par t of the overa l linves t iga t ion of the Pentagon Papers an d t h i s whole mess . ft

(1 ) Do you r e c a l l I".r . Hitche l l o r othe r srefer r ing to the fact tha t these 11iretap recordswere being used to help in the invest igat ion of

" the P e n t ~ 9 o l ' ) . Papers and/or Hr. Ellsberg.jn r. tQiP /!N'V"


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Chronology of Events rc Removal of W i r e t ~ p R e L ~ r d D Apri l 25, 1969: According to Ki s s inger , he meetR with

Nixon, Bitchcl l and Hoover on th is da y ...nd i t i sdecided t h ~ t next t i ne there i s a major l eak ,wiretapping wil l be used to t rack down the sourceo f the l eak .

May 9, 1969: William Beecher (NY Times) reveals secretCambodia bombing. Four conversat ions between K i s ~ i n g e r and Hoover on th is date and a wiretap i s ins ta l ledon Halper in .

May 12, 1969: Attorney General signs authorizat ion forHalperin wiretap ( done three days ear l i e r ) . as wel las wiretaps on Davidson, J f ~ ~ ~ ~ f d ~ ~ a n d Pursley.

April 30 , 1970: Cambodian invasion - - At this time onlywiretaps in operation are Halperin and Brandon.

May 4, 1970: Beecher (NY Times) reveals renewed secretborrhing of Vietnam.wiretaps on Beeche r ,

Haig, on behalf Nixon requestsPuJ: .....Pursley, Sullivan and ~ \ 6 e r 8 e n . May 13 , 1970: lIaig , on behalf of Kissinger, reques ts

wiretaps on Lake and Lord. (Nixon apparently ha s avivid recol lect ion of Kissinger ins is t ing upon theLake l1iretap because Lake hall been involved in thesecre t Paris negotiat ions and Kissinger w a ~ afraid

.-- Ji - 4 ~ k e would ta lk to ! ~ u l l k i about these negotiat ions since~ . ' b ,t fbc was 20ing to world for Muskie. )May 15 , 1970: According to Kissinger , a t his request , a l l

l l iretap l e t t e r s are sent from th is time on to Hl\ldemanra ther than to Kissinger and taxon.

February 10 , 1971: All \


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in p ~ r a an d noted on the bot tom of Su l l i van' smcmordndum Minqui r e o f Colonel Haiq Hhc t he r any cn n betake n o ff ."~ ! Q r c h , 1971 : (Haldeman notes i nd ic a te poss ib le d i !>cussion

of Hoover retirement.)1\pr i l 5, 1971: Congressman 809gs C h il . rg C S th a t the t 'B I

i s wiretapping Congressmen. Nixon or Haldemancal ls Hoover to reassure him of thei r SUpport .

April 6-11 , 1971 , Kleindienst s ta tes tha t he would wa!comea congressional investigation of the FDI .Hoover cal ls Kleindienst and says any such invest igat ionmight reveal \ ~ i r e t a p s done the President . (See

fr..... r ..Liddy memo to f i l e s August 10, 1971.) j Nixon r eca l l sa t th is time having a breakfast with Moover (Easte r t i ne ) ,bu t bel ieves the re was no problem in terms o f l looverthreatening to reveal the wiretaps .

ril 12, 1971, Hoover sends memorandum)probably to a l lAs s i s t a n t Directors, cu t t ing l-lardia n out of a l l "AeDomestic InteJ. l igence informa t ion and implying t h a t l?the ... a I ~ r e t a r l - ! - O ! t ' . e people a t the preSfdc: t ' : r e Q ~ : s t . '

Apri l 13, 1971: Nixon, Haldeman, Ehrlichman discussHoover problem, Nixon s t a t e s t h a t he


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Also. Nixon n:ects with Ehr lichman and Mi tche ll for ageneral di s cu s sion of the Pentagon Papers a nd poss iblegrand jury actions . Mitchell , ear l i e r thl l t day, hadmet wi th Hoover. Nardian ilnd Kleindienst. A!!::o,

f-v'" \t.. ', Sul l ivan in 0. memo re fe r s to Ellsberg as II fo r r..e r,,\' ('00\ },\, ~ ~ I . . ~ ...V . , . " ~ 7 . ass is tan t to John ~ l i o _ l o n . same descr ip t ion a s'/ .' ~ \ / . J " .l" " ~ \ " A $ r Su l l i v an ' s handwritten notes on the t r ip log .'}" t'..}" f".:r \.. (Sul l ivan admits t h a t he probably consu l ted t h i s log~ : r in prep a r ing h is June 15 , 1971, memo.)"t '

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June 17, 1971: ~ ~ t b Fhrljcbman and Ki s s ingerIn th i s reecting. there i s a general discussion ofthe Pentagon Papers and tw o 8 p c c ~ f i c po in t s of no te .Fi r s t , there i s a discussion of the Brookings I n s t i t u tand the fact tha t , according to Tom Huston , they havea copy/or the o r i g i n a ~ of Johnson's 1968 bombing ha l t

.. _ S ! \ ~ . 1 f i l e . Nixon ci tes Huston's plan and SODeoneshould go in and get the f i l e s . E h r l i c ~ a n notesof the meeting indicate the Pres ident ' s s ta t ing

h! II : ~ : P a l e m e n t the f t . " ~ c o n d , in this meeting there1T discussion of the fact tha t Ellsberg u s e d ~ .

There i s no spec i f ic reference by Kissinger to beingaware of th is fact spec.i t i ca l ly from th a wiretaps .K ~ i n g e r s ta tes tha t Ellsberg i s get t ing in to drugsa ~ x o n picks up on th is and ~ ~ ~ 4 k i n g drugs . K i ~ s i n g e r ' s r e s p o n s ~ i s tha t there i s no Le l!~ i o n about it , and Nixon says. 6 qe t it out , "meaning, it to the pre..s.

June 25-30 . 1971 : This is the period of the Mar)f, interviewcontroversy, resul t ing in the demotion of Drennan andthe subsequent reinstatement of Brennan a t theins is tence of the Attorney General. This incidentwas probably discussed a t the President in l leve l and it

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appears from a June 30 , 1971, telephone conversation

between Hitchel l and Nixon tha t they were discus!;ingt h i s p r ob l (!)n and t h a t 1litchell had been able to ~ m o o t h it ove r with Hoover.

June 25, 1971 : Conpla int f i l ed a g a i n s t Ellsborg in LosAngeles and a warrant issued for his arres t .

June 28, 1971: Ellsberg 10 ~ d i c t e d on tw o counts - - onet he f t count and one espionage count. Also , Ellsbergsurrenders i n Boston . (Fron the time of Ellsberg ' ssurrender to his Los Angeles arraignnent on August 16 ,1971 , his attorneys continually made motions fo r thedisclosure of the electronic surveil lance informat i on .)

July 2 , 1971: Interna l Securi ty Division requests theFBI to determine whether or not El!sberg has beenoverhea r d . This memo specif ical ly s ta tes tha t th i scheck i s in ant ic ipat ion of defense motions . )

July 6, 1971: meets with Ha l deman , E h r l i c ~ n andlolitchell. T h e r ~ a general discussion of the 7ssot tll:1& c : , I 0 1 j , I I h ' i iCs t iyatiolL a na the grand jury .-

\ l!!i9ht be helpful.be i ng reviewed a t the B u r ~ a uf . l i ~ c h e s t a t.e s tha t the logs areH a ~ m a n then says t ha the r eca l ls conver s at ions of Sheehan being on the logs .(In fact , there was only on e Sheehan conversat ion.)Nixon asked , "Who ' s got the t ime to read i t , " andnotes t hat "I natu r a l l y never saw any of that s tu f f . "Haldeman again s t a tes tha t in l igh t of recent deve l opments ,those 109s might have much more meaning and Hitchel lagain notes t ha t t hey are be i ng reviewed .,--"''''} J u ly 9 , 19 71 ;el .u< ch'ck on var i ou. gr.nd jury witne, .eu , in c luding

cal l s Brennan and asks fo r an

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i!alpCl"in, Harnkc, Gell> and Sheehan.da te ~ ! a r d i a n i s ins t ruc ted to go to San Cl2:mente.~ a r d i a n claUn$ he was i n ~ t r u c t e d saIL from Haldeman o r Ehrlichm.!!.n.

to clo.. tbj s in a

a!!9 noted tha t according to Dean,t h a t he was going a t Kle ind iens t ' s

L ! . h o u l d ~ ~ r d i a n ~ t a t c d ( ,l . n s t r ~ s . )

July 10, 1971 : Nixon meets with Haldeman , Ehrlichrnan andRose l-Iary ~ I o o d s The i n i t i a l discuss ion concerm theNixon Library, but l a t e r gets into Ellsberg . At onepoint Nixon says tha t Rogers should be tapping more.(According- to Hortenson, Nixon reca l l s th i s merelyas a general outburst that the State Department wasleaking and that everyone should be tapping more andnot tha t he was spec i f ica l ly aware of any wiretappingbeing done by the State Department .) After th i s ,

- ) s omeon e s ta tes "re grand jury - - don ' t worry re tapsoJ '8>'L ~ ~ , on d , 1 ~ ~ r e witnesses . " (Nixon does not recal l()a n ~ h i n 9 about th is reference.)

July 12, 1971: 8 :1 5 a . m. Mardian has breakfast withEhrlichman. 10 : 30 a.m . Dean l"Ieet8 ' ' lith Ehrlichmanto turn o f f the Broor-ings b o ~ h i n g . 11 a . m. Nixonmoot8 with Haldeman , Ehrlichman an rdl.an


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NW#: 36514-

I1Al:diaD In--(1) Re National Security taps

S r ~ " " ' \ Especially . Coverage TapsBeecherSheehanHedrick Smith

Qycrhear ing8 would be disc losed

li M (Haldeman) InPresid en t(2 ) Southern Dis t r i c t o f New York

Whitney N. Seymour, J r .5um:ner Interns01sloyalLindsey-typesIncluding lIorth SeylllOur

(3) M (Mardian): ~ u m b e r o f dOCuments ou tlise b.,H !Holdel lan) ..., I(4) H (Haldeman) recover documents f r o ~ Haig

(5 ) Pres iden t ok. obta in an d des t roya l l logs

(6 ) Te l l Hoover to des t toy(7) M (Hardlan): Ordered only to go with grand jury

newspaperWitnesses or newspaperIndictmentsAwalt instructions from Attorney Generaltlow a t t h a t poin tCan make Sheehan (1) Ellsberg cases now

(8) President - - Let th e C O ~ i t t e e s East landIchord"T the papers

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(9 ) E.G. Congrensional f i gh t CBSCan ' L ca l l n C W 3 p a p e r ~ before grand jury

(IO) 10 year Sta tu te of Limitat ionsEspionageAn in aiquate s ta tu teNeed to inquire re law i s adequate

(11) (Marel ian), Quest ion i s IchordEant!and more dependableHas best lawyerKleindienst an d M (Mardian) to Sen . E (Eastland)President requests him to00 it soon

(12) FB I going all ou t now - Jt.o.. h(13) we11 not deny lchord the s tuf f

Get Eastland in too(14) l I ~ g return documents t.2....!!!!.

to RM (Hardian) for dest ruct ionH ~ 9 request the FBI ( S u l ~ i v a n ) to des t roy a l lspecia l covcrage

(15)

Q.\'~ v a n wi l l contact fo'.ardian Y/ -source documents missing ( E l l s ~

can ' t be found in Govermr.ent f i l e s(1 6) tw th ias - - didn ' t de l iv e r h is documents

tf"~ r e S i d e n t phone c.::tll~ ~ " ' " (18) Gclb the pr inc ipa l co-conspi ra tor


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July 13, 1971: FSI memo to Internal Security Divisionwhich statcz tha t Ellsberg has never been overheard.

July 16, 1971: FBI ~ e m o to In terna l Secur i ty Divisionwhich s t a t e s t h a t Halper in , J a r n k c and Sheehan havebeen overheard on foreign e s t a b l i s h ~ ~ n t wiretap .but docs not mention Halperin wiretap or any otheroverhears from special coverage taps .

July 30, 1971: ~ l c l l s l eaves the FB I to go to \ourk fo rHardian. Note: \'le118 l a t e r t e l l s Smith t h a t as o f......th is time he was s t i l l working &f the wiretaps . hlso ,Kathy Stone ' s recollection tha t she was told tha t thewiretap records were over with ~ B r c n n a n and Wells. M

August 4, 1971: Mardian ca l l .u to ~ ~ t c h e l l followedi ~ e d i a t e l y by Mitchell cal l to Sullivan . c . ~ , Msrdla; l(

meats with Kissinger and s ta tes that Hoover is e i the rblackmailing or threatening to blackmail the PreS1dent,..-ith regard to the wiretap recordS .) Liddy meets withHardinn and McGra1\. and is told tha t \o,'ells wil l headlE e and tha t ll 'ells i s the one man that Hoover fearsbecause of things Kells did for Hoover while he wasin the Bureau. (Note: I t i s probably l ikely thatNixon had conversations with Mitchell a t this timeconcerning the "Hoover threat , " but we have no dailydiary information or notes that can lead us to anysuch conversation . )

Augunt 10 , 1971: Liddy meoo to f i les re meeting with~ r d i a n Outing th is meeting, Mardian recounts beingin Kleindienst 'S office (April, 1971) when Kleindienstreceived a cal l from Hoover and lIoover threatenedto reveal the wiretaps. ~ l a r d i a n does not t e l l Liddytha t it i s a threat to reveal the wiretaps, but onlys ta tes tha t apparently Kleindienst did not pllll::eivewhat the threat was.

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August 11, 1971: Young lif :t itcrnt> todiscus!.l with Ehrlichman include-HooverNixon meets with Ehrlichman. General discussion ofPcngaton Papers case and the progress of the SALTle ak clIse. Eltrlichman notes t ha t Hoover i s scared

Ito dea th o f the Pentagon Papers cllse b e c a u ~ - 1 - he i sf r o i d t h a t i ~ l l S l ' L . L d o - i . t . . . . l : . . 4 I , ' h " t ' - ' t " b " ' " t U " ' ' ' ' w w J . ; ' J . l . l hur t h i ~ ~ e p u t a t i Q n Ehrlichrnan al so s ta te s t ha tl-!itchell has decided t ha t Pat Gray i s the person tor ep lace Hoover and t ha t the method o f doing t h i s is

to have Gray go over so Hoover's deputy forabout six months and then b c c o ~ Director.

August 16, 1971: Ellsberg i s arraigned in Los Angeles.i ~ U. S. A t t o r n e y ~ O f ' i 8 ~ Robert M e y e r ~ t a t C 8 tha t he i s authori2ed by the Just ice Oepartment tos ta te that Ellsberg has never been overheard onany electronic surveillance.

~ u g u 28, 1971: Sull ivan sends his l e t te r to Hooverci t ing a l l his various policy disagreements withHoover's administrat ion of the FBI .

Late ~ u g u s t 1971: According to Brennan, Sull ivan goes toMardian ' s off ice with the wiretap logs but Hardill.nis not there . Sull ivan then brings the satchel toBrennan ' s office and asks him to deliver it uponMardian's return . Brennan does th is but claims notto have been aware of the contents of the satchel .

~ a r l y September, 1971 : Mardian shows Wells the ~ i r e t a p records and suggests tha t Wall s may be asked totake custody of the records .

Mid-September. 1971 : Nixon meets with Iloover and Hoover

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t e l lS Nixon that he would be willing to leave if/ t l b : : O I L . . f ~ l t that he was a l iabi l i ty for Nixon in the

t v r ~ (2J! campaign-:,... ~ ~ , j , " ,/ . d"..Q"?" tr'"'


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,September 1971: Hoover f i res Sull ivan .October 2, 1971: Mitchel l t e l l s Hoo\'er t h a t tho \ / i rctDps

\o,"cre removed from the FBI with Hoover's concurrence"l."",J."and thnt the w i r c t a p ~ been destroyed .October 8 , 1971: P ~ e t i n g of Nixon with Ehrlichmnn and

Mitche l l . f . l i tchel l d iscus ses th e f ac t t h a t Hooveri s searching a l l over t ry ing to f ind th e wire tap~ o x d s and tha t th i s may le ad to a c o n f r o n t a t i ~ n

and..suggest tha tl

ra the r than Mardian holdinq..!.!!...records) they be given to Ehrlichman. Nixonc oncurs and it i s agreed tha t should Hoover confrontI-Utche l l , it w i l l simply be s ta ted t ha t the wire taprecords a re in thc "Pres ident ' s hands."

October 8-25, Mardian delivers the wiretap recordsto Ehrlichman .

October 25 , 1971, ~ e e t i n g of Nixon and Ehrlichman . Nixonand Ehrlichman discuss Liddy ' s mODO on the FBI andduring the course of th is meeting , Nixon atates t ha twith regard to Hoover Mwe have a man on our hands whomay bring the whole temple down with him , includingme . M They go on to discuss the scenaIio of ~ , h , . J t

having Hoover res ign , in January , 1972 , that a tth a t time he would me re l y s ta te tha t th i s i s hisla s t year in th e Bureau and af ter the 1972elect ion , t f tM \ ~ h o e v i s Presidont can appoint thenew Director and tha t he wil l only stay onunt i l af ter the new Director i s confirmed . There iaalso a dis c uss i on tha t Hoover might agree to PatGray being nominatod as the new Director.

November 1 , 197 1 : 3 : 00 p . m.J!',:i r:- I t ~ p r o b a h l ~ C t b i s Hoover tha t the wiretap

Mi tche 11 meetn wi th lIoover .#get in g that Mitchell t e l l slogs have not been destroyed


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but are in Ehr l i chman 's of f i ce . lIoover l a t e r t e l l sth i s to Fel t .

November 2, 1971: Nixon meets with F . h r l i c h r n ~ n Th e tapeo f t h i s meeting does not e x i s t , but notes i n d i c ~ t e that the discussions were generally about s t ra teg iesfor getting r id of Hoover and that there i s nospecif ic discussion of the wiretap problem.


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dIl.l 7'-;TO: Jay HorowitzFROM: Frank MartinRE: Nixon's Testimony

I spoke with Stan Mortenson on wednesday and g o ta br ief out l ine of his impression of Nixon's responseto various questions on both the wiretap and the Grayinvest igat ions. Mortenson had done the questioningon th is matter and Miller had taken the notes of Nixon ' sresponses. Mortenson d id not have those notes withhim and, therefore, did not give me a detai led rundownt l .,but should be call ing me early week for more de ta i lon Nixon's responses. Given tha t we have some advancewarning on Nixon's l ike l y responses, we should makean i n i t i a l decision as to whether or not to try to developthe ful l background in both invest igat ions or to specif icallybore in on the July 12, 1971, meeting with Mardian and n+-.:.........." ..- . . .01on the February 23, 1973 , to February 28, 1 9 7 3 ~ c o n c e r n i n g Gray. We may also want to get into some de ta i l on theApri l , 1971, H o o v e r K l e i n d i e n s t s i tuat ion . Also,although not di rect ly re la ted to our or ig inal plans onquestioning Nixon , we should make some decision withHank concerning whet her or not to get in to whether ornot Kissinge r " ini t ia ted " any of the wiretaps . Outlinedbelow as to various specif ic l ines of inquiry is a combinationof my readout from Sa n concerning Nixon I s present recollec -t ion , the extent to which Nixon ' s r ecol lect ion is e i the r,.#-.:1:.9e ~ ~ ~ or contradicted by tapes and documents, and sugges-t ions as to how to approach each l ine of inquiry .t . The Wiretaps Themselves

Nixon reca l l s , in par t i cula r; KiSSinger being veryins is te nt upon wiretapp i ng Tony Lake because of Lake ' spar t ic ipa t ion in t he secre t Paris negot i at ions . Apparently,


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Nixon's recollect ion on that subject i s rather vivid.Nixon claims to believe that the taps were never of verymuch value but Kissinger real ly wanted the wiretaps.Nixon assumes tha t the wiretaps were discontinued becauseof the i r low productivi ty and has no explanation for hisApril, 1973, comments concerning "knocking the wiretapsoff af ter the hullabalo out there ." AS to the Radfordtaps, Nixon simply believes tha t they came off in thenormal course as a re su l t of Kieth decision. There arevarious tape references consis tent with Nixon's claimnot to have been intimately involved in the wiretaps andtha t Kissinger was the one who was involved . Speci f ica l ly ,1'0\,on th e July 6'ktape, Nixon re ters to the fact tha t henever saw any of the wiretap materia l and on the February 27,and 28th tapes, Nixon refers to Kissinger wanting thewiretaps and he, Nixon, assuming they were done, and alsoto the fact tha t Kissinger loved the wiretaps and used toread them a l l the time. I f we want to go in to the areaof Kissinger 's ~ i n i t i a t i o n ~ of the wiretaps , it seems tha tNixon's testimony wil l be straightforward and that th isarea could be handled by four or five relat ively quick question&.As to Nixon's fa i lu re to recol lec t why the wiretaps werediscontinued, he could be pushed a l i t t l e given his s ta te -i+-ment on the tapes concerning the "hullabalo" but does notAseem tha t th is would be very productive.I I . July , 1971 - - San Clemente

According to Stan, Nixon has very l i t t l e recol lect ionNof the July 10th, 1971, reference to not worrying about

taps on discovery" and similar ly, ta s very l i t t l e recol lect ionof the overhear problem a8 it was discussed in the July 12,1971, meeting. Nixon does not r eca l l any relat ionshipbetween the Ellsberg or Pentagon Papers case and the wiretapproblem. He also has no or l i t t l e knowledge concerning


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,why the wiretaps were not destroyed. As regards the indi-cations of the July 12th notes tha t newspaper peopleshould not be called before the grand jury , Nixon's reco l lec-t ion is that th is was basical ly a public re la t ions issueregarding suppression of the press. Nixon does r eca l lMitchell being concernedlogs. Nixon also recal ls

about Hoover and about the wiretap"'-"a concern -, pJ.u.,-..H o o v e r ~ i n t o Ehrlichman's possession.

There are a number of things which are inconsistent withNixon's recol lect ion of the July 12, 1971, meeting especia l lythe early notes concerning the overhear problem and theins t ruc t ions for Hoover to destroy the logs which would in dicate tha t Hoover would be cooperating in th is e f for t .In addit ion, there i s Mardian's statement tha t Rthe FBI'sgoing a l l out now" with regard to the Ellsberg case. Also,i t should be noted tha t the July 12, 1971, meeting i s thetime of the formation of the Plumbers Unit and th is wouldbe the logical thing to have happened given the considerationsof the problems of Rlntell igence Operations" causingproblems when it comes to prosecut ions. On the July 12thmeeting, I would suggest probing point by point througho fEhrlichman's aotes with the assurance/Mortenson that hehas gone over a l l th is materia l again with Nixon and hasexplained to him why the July 12 events are dif ferent fromthe OCtober, 1971, events.I I I . Hoover Threat

Nixon recal l s meeting with Hoover in early Apri l ,1971, and s ta tes t ha t there was no th reat from Hoover and


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tha t he never received an y such threat . There i s somesupport for Nixon's -impression- in the February,. 1973, Iv...tt\ + "- ~ 1 l . . A tapes where he seems to indicate d i s a g r e e m e n t ~ t h a t Hooverwould ever threaten him. There i s , however, s ignif icantcontradict ion for Nixon's present recol lect ion, in par t icular ,the reference on the October 25 , 1971, tape to Hooverbringing- the temple down with him, inc luding me." Nixonnow claims that th is statement has no meaning to him.I t seems that Nixon i s confusing again events in April , 1971,August, 1971, and October, 1971 . I would suggest probingon the October 25, 1971, tape reference above, as well asthe April , 1911, notes which indicate tha t Hoover was upsetover Kleindienst an d had threatened to reveal the wiretaps .I would also probe on what was done to turnoff on the COngressional invest igat ion idea.IV. Gray's Nomination

Kleindienst

Nixon's recol lect ion i s that there had been somein i t i a l considerat ions consis tent with the January 8, 1973,Haldeman notes, to not abQoUt Gray. Nixonfur ther recal ls tha t when it came down to trying to findsomeone e l se , various pol i t i ca l factors indicated tha t the bes tthey could do would be to send up Gray. This i s somewhatwith Ehrlichman1973, discussion/concerningonfirmed by the February 14,nominating Gray. With regard to the meeting with Gray,Nixon recal ls the main c o n c e r n being how Gray would handlethe Watergate quest ions, and tha t th i s i s what he wasprincipal ly concerned with probing Gray on. Also, Nixondoes not assume tha t his discussion with Gray concerningthe need for a direct relat ionship between th e Directorand the President meant tha t he expected Gray to engage inwiretapping or that Gray necessari ly knew about the wiretappingthat Hoover had done for Nixon as par t of th i s direc t


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relat ionship with the President . Stan did not reca l l ,without h is notes, how Nixon responded to the tape references

to the leaks to Time magazine. Other than for se t t ingNixon ' s general concern over Fel t and leaks to Time as wellas the fact tha t he pushed for Sullivan during th is meeting,there does not seem that there i s a lo t to be gained byprobing Nixon in de ta i l on the February 16 , 1973 , meeting.V. Time Magazine Story

According to Mortenson , Nixon ' s recol lect ion i s hazyand apparently he has l i t t l e in formation about t h i s period,a t l eas t from the i r i n i t i a l conversation . Nixon s ta tes........ "tha t he a s s u m e s G r a y Wist would not necessar i ly haveknown about the wiretaps since they were c ~ o s e l y held an dhe believes that only Hoover, Sull ivan, Kissinger, Haig,Haldeman, Ehrlichman, an d Mitchell would have such knowledge.Nixon fur ther assumes tha t denying the Time al legat ions wassomething that he real ly would A e ' B ~ i .0 iave deal t with .There i s substant ial contradiction for Nixon ' s view of theseevents . On the basis of the February 16, 1973, meetingwith Gray, it is clear tha t Nixon would be very concernedabout another " t r u t h f u l ~ story to Time magazine an d aboutthe poss ibi l i ty that Fel t and/or Sullivao was the source ofth is s tory. In addit ion, we have the February 25, 1973, notesof Haldeman ' s conversation with the President concerningthe fact tha t Brandon an d Sa f ire were known to Time magazineas subjecGof the wiretaps and tha t t h i s would be an obviousconcern to Nixon . This i s buttressed by the fact tha t inhis conversat ions on the 27th and 28th with D Nixoncontinual ly refers to Brandon and W ~ ' I t ~ ' ; f n 9 ~ ~ : 1 1concerned that it might leak out tha t Bi l l Safire had beenwiretapped. Safi re was s t i l l on the White House s t a f f a tthat t ime. In addition th:!Haldeman notes clearly indicate


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that Nixon had discussed the subject matter withEhrlichman while they were a t Camp David . Final ly ,there i s a reference in the February 27th tape toNixon discussing the wiretaps an d saying ~ o f course wehad to stonewall an d say nothing happened , - This obviouslyindicates that th is was the decision that had been reacheda t Camp David or had been reported to Nixon by Ehrlichmana t Camp David . Nixon , on the February 28th tape makesan addi t ional reference where Dean s ta tes that the Timemagazine a r t i c l e is being stonewalled completely an dNixon says "oh , absolutely,- I t would appear t ha t as tothe issues in the Gray investigation, the quest ioningshould concentrate on probing the events of the 2 4 t ~25th and 26th of February . This i s due to the fac tt ha t we have a c lea r indicat ion that Nixon spoke toEhrlichman, but did not know the substance of that co n -versat ion an d it i s clear that Nixon l a t e r ta lked toHaldeman and he should have some knowledge as to what wasdone to assu r e the Time allegations would be "stonewal led,-AVI. Other Aspects

There are a few other more miscellaneous aspects ofthe questioning which we should discuss whether or notwe shou l d probe deeply on . This includes the Kleindienstknowl edge of the wi r etaps e i the r as a resul t of t he April ,1971, threat , the July , 1971 . San Clemente meeting. andthe implementation of the orders given by Nixon a t t ha tmeeting , and f inal ly discuss ions with Richard Moore con cerning the wiretaps e i the r during 1971 j in discuss ionsabout replacing Hoover or in discussions about Sull ivan ' sdeparture from the Bureau . Also. we should pr ob e possiblywhether or not Y ~ o r e had any knowledge a t the time of theGray confi rmation hea r i ngs and the Time magAzine ar t ic le


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about the wiretaps . Final ly. there i s the question ofwhether or not there was other wiretapping done in thecourse of the Ellsberg invest igat ion. There are clearindicat ions in two April 19, 1971 . conversations, onewith Petersen and on e with Moore , that such wiretappingwas done and tha t Nixon knows about it . There are,however, in some of these conversations, some disc l aimersat+-of ehe extent of Nixon ' s knowledge. I did not get in tospeci f ics with Stan concerning th i s i s sue , although hedid s ta te tha t as to a notation in Ehrlichman ' s July 10 ,1971 , notes concerning the fac t that ~ R o g e r should betapping m o r e it i s Nixon ' s recol lect ion tha t he was notaware whether or not Roge r s was tapping at a l l , no r didhe give a speci f ic order that he should be tapping, butthat th is was a general statement about the problem ofleaks out of the Sta te Department, and an indicat ion tha tthere should be

My i n i t i a lmore wiretapping .I JJ Gi l f M . " r ? ..... A4_gat ' Qn is tha t we should concentrate

on July 10, 12 , 19 71, on February 24 , 25 , 1973, andpossibly on the April , 1971 , materia ls regarding Kleindienstand possible knowledge o f the wiretaps .


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extltf&45 -- . -/)1/oj8hJ

-"1._- --...- _._---------,-_ . --_.- - - - - -

Ij - - - . - - - - ~ . . . - ._ . -_ ._--- -_.- --_.-1-----,.-------- ...-----.---- --_.- i---- +--- ~

- - - - - - --+- ---, -i-I -


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Chronology o f Events re Removal o f - h r e t a p Records

A p r i l 25, 1969According to Kiss inger , he meets with Uixon, Mitche l land Hoover on t h i s day and it i s decided t h a t n e ~ t t ime there i s a major leak , wiretapping , ..i l1 be usedto t rack down the source of the leak.

May 9 , 1969 - -\ ' l i l l iam Beecher (NY Times) re vea l s s e c r e t Cambodiabombing . Four c onver sa t ions between Kiss inger andHoover on t h i s da te and a wiretap i s i n s t a l l ed onHalper in .

Nay 12 , 1969 - -Attorney Genera l s igns author iza t ion fo r Halper in , .i r e -tap (done t h r ee days ea r l i e r ) , as wel l as wiretaps onDavidson , Sonnenfe ld . and Purs ley .

Apr i l 30 , 1970Cambodian i nvas ion - - a t t h i s t ime on ly wiretaps i nopera t ion a re Halper in and Brandon .

Na y 4, 1970 - -

Beecher (NY Times ) revea ls renewed s e c r e t bombing o fVietnam. Haig , on beha l f Nixon r eques t s wiretaps onBeecher , Purs ley , Su l l ivan and Pete r sen .May 13, 19 70 - -

Haig , on beha l f o f Kiss i nger , reques t s wire taps onLake and Lo r d. (Nixon apparent ly has a v iv id r eco l l ec t ion o f Kiss inger i n s i s t i n g upon the Lake wiretap be -cause Lake had been involved in the sec re t Par i snegot i a t ions and Kiss inger was a f r a id Lake would t a lkto Huskie abou t these negot i a t ions s ince he was goingt o \'1ork fo r Huskie . )l"ay 1 5 , 1970

According to Ki ss inger , a t h i s reques t , a l l \ ' l iretapl e t t e r s a r e sen t from t h i s t ime on to Haldeman ra the rthan to Kiss inger and Nixon .


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February 10 , 1971A ll wiretaps then in opera t ion (Halper in , Brandon,Sonnenfeld , Beecher , Sul l ivan , Pe te r sen , P u r s l e y ,Lake , Lord) are discontinued . The day before Hooverhad asked Sul l ivan fo r a list o f all t aps then inopera t ion and noted on the bottom o f Sul l iv a n ' s memorandum " inqu i re of Colonel Haig whether any can be takeno f f . "

Narch , 1971(Haldeman notes ind ica te poss ib le d i scuss ion o fHoover re t i remen t . )

A p r i l S , 1971 - -Congressman Boggs charges t h a t the FBI i s wiretappingCongressmen. Nixon or Haldeman ca l l s Hoover to reassu re him o f t h e i r suppor t .

Apr i l 6-11, 1971Kleindienst s tates tha t he would welcome a congress iona li nves t i ga t i on o f the FBI . Hoover ca l l s Kl e i n d i e n s tand says any such i nves t i ga t i on migh t revea l wi re tapsdone fo r the P r e s id e n t . (See Liddy memo to f i le sAugust 10, 1971 . ) Nixon r e c a l l s a t t h i s t ime havinga br eakf as t with Hoover (Eas te r t im e ) , b u t b e li e v e sthe re was no problem in t e r ns o f Hoover th rea ten ing tor e v e a l the wi re t aps .

Apr i l 12 , 1971 - -Hoover sends memorandum, probably to a l l Ass i s t an tD ir e c to r s , cu t t i ng Mardian o u t o f Domestic In t e l l i genceinformat ion and implying t h a t the FBI \ ' i ' iretap somepeople a t the P res iden t ' s r eques t .

Apr i l 13, 1971Nixon , Haldeman, Ehrl ichman d iscuss Hoover problem,Nixon s t a t e s t h a t he d i scussed wi th Mi tche l l Hoovermemo suggest ing t h a t th e FBI had wire tapped somepeople fo r the Pres iden t .

February-May , 1971 - -Sometime dur ing t h i s per iod , Hardian probab ly l earnedo f th e wire taps in connect ion wi th p repar ing r esponses


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to Sena to r Kennedy's reques t fo r a breakdown o fthe number of \ ' J i retaps conducted by the FBI.(See lJIay 7 , 1973 , Mardian in terv iew by Glanzer . )

June 13. 1971Pentagon Papers publ ished .

June 15, 1971Wells prepares 6/15/71 memo re Morton Halper in .Also. Nixon meets Hith Ehrlichman and Mitchell fora genera l d i scuss ion o f the Pentagon Papers andposs i b l e grand jury act ions . Hitche l l , e a r l i e r t h a tday , had met ' ' l i th Hoover , Mardian and Kle ind iens t .Also , Sullivan in a memo refers to Ellsherg as a formera s s i s t a n t to John NcNaughton, same desc r i p t i on asSul l ivan ' s handwri t ten notes on th e Acid t r i p log .(Sul l ivan admits t ha t he probably consul ted t h i s login preparing his June 15 , 1971 . memo.)

June 16 , 1971 - -According to Colson , Nixon and Kiss inger a re awareo f El l sberg - Halper in conversa t ions .

June 17 , 1 9 7 1 - -Nixon meets \" i th Ehrl ichman and Kiss inger . Int h i s meeting , t he r e i s a genera l d iscuss ion o f thePentagon Papers and tw o spec i f i c poin t s o f note .F i r s t , the re i s a d iscuss ion o f the Brookings I n s t i t u t eand the f ac t t h a t , according to Tom Huston, theyhave a copy, o r th e o r i g i n a l , o f Johnson ' s 196 8 bombingh a l t f i l e . Nixon c i t e s "Huston 's plan " and says some-one s hould go in and ge t the f i l e s . Ehrl ichman ' s n o te so f the meet ing i nd i ca t e th e Pr e s id e n t ' s s t a t i n g" implemen t a t h e f t . " Second , in t h i s meeting therei s a d iscuss ion o f the f a c t t h a t El lsbe rg used drugs .There i s no spec i f i c reference by Kiss inger t o be ingaware o f t h i s f a c t s p e c i f i c a l ly from the wi re taps .Kiss inger s t a t e s t h a t El lsbe rg i s ge t t i ng in to drugsand Nixon p icks up on t h i s and says i s he t ak ingdrugs . Kiss inger ' s respon se i s t h a t t he r e i s no q u e s t ion about it, and Nixon says , "g e t it ou t ," i.e .meaning, leak it to the press .


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June 25-30 , 1971This i s the per iod o f the Harks in te rv iew con t roversy ,r e su l t i ng in th e demotion of Brennan and th e subsequent reinstatement of Brennan a t the insis tence ofth e Attorney General . This i n c id e n t was probab ly d i s cussed a t th e P r e s i d e n t i a l l e v e l and it appear s from aJune 30 , 1 971 , t e lephone conversat ion bebleen Mitche l land Nixon t h a t they were d i scuss ing t h i s problem andt h a t Mitche l l had been ab le to smooth it over w ithHoover.

J W1e 25, 1 971Compl a i n t f i l e d a g a in s t El l she rg in Los Angeles and awarrant issued for his arres t .

June 28, 1971El lsbe rg i s i n d i c t e d on two coun ts -- one t h e f tcount and one espionage count . Also , El l sbergsu r r ender s in Boston . (From th e t ime o f E l l s b e r g ' ssu r render to h is Los Angeles ar ra ignment on August 1 6 ,1 9 71 , h i s a t t o r n e y s con t inua lly made mot ions fo r t h ed isc lo sure o f th e e l ec t r on i c su rve i l l ance informat ion . )

Ju l y 2 , 1971 - -I n t e r n a l Secur i ty Divis ion reques t s th e FBI to d e t e r mine whether o r n o t E1lsberg has been overheard . Thismemo spec i f i c a l l y s t a t e s t h a t t h i s check i s in a n t i c i p a t io n o f defense mot ions . )

J u ly 6 , 1 97 1 - -Nixon meets with Hal dema n, Ehr1ichman an d Mitche l l.There i s a genera l d i scuss ion o f t h e progress o f th egrand ju ry . During t he conver sa t ion , Haldeman r a i s e st he poss ib i l i t y o f checking t he wi r e t ap logs fo r anyi nformat ion t h a t might be he lp fu l . Mitche l l s t a t e st h a t th e l ogs a re being rev iewed a t th e Bureau . Halde man then says t h a t he reca l l s conver sa t ions o f Sheehanbe i ng on t he logs . (In f a c t , t h e r e \'las on ly oneSheehan conver sa t i on . ) Nixon asked , "vlho ' s g o t the t imeto r ead it , " and no tes t h a t " I na t u r a l l y never saw anyo f t h a t s t u f f . " Haldeman aga in s t a t e s t h a t in l i g h t o fr e c e n t deve l opments , t hose logs might have much moremeaning and Mitche l l aga in no tes t h a t they a re b e in grev iewed .

_ J ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


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July 2-9 , 1971 - -Wells t e l l s Wannall there are no Ellsberg overhears.

July 9, 1971 - -Olson cal l s Brennan and asks for an elsur check onvarious grand jury witnesses., including Halperin,Warnke, Gelb and Sheehan. Also, on t h i s dateMardian is instructed to go to San Clemente. Mardianclaims he was instructed to do this in a ca l l fromHaldeman or Ehrlichman . I t should be a lso noted t h a taccording to Dean, Mardian s ta ted tha t he was going a tKleindienst ' s ins t ruct ions .

July 10, 1971 - -Nixon meets with Haldeman, Ehrlichman an d Rose MaryWoods. Th e i n i t i a l discuss ion concerns the NixonLibrary, but l a t e r gets in to Ellsberg. At one pointNixon says tha t Rogers should be tapping morc. (Accordingto Mortenson, Nixon reca l l s this merely as a generaloutburst tha t the State Department was leaking an d tha teveryone should be tapping more and not tha t he wasspecif ica l ly aware of any wiretapping being done bythe State Department.) After t h i s , someone s ta tes r egrand jury - - don ' t worry re taps on discovery rewitnesses.- (Nixon does not r ecal l anything about th i sreference. )

July 12, 1971 - -8:15 a .m. Mardian ha s breakfas t with Ehr1ichman.10:30 a.m. Dean meets with Ehr1ichman to turn o ff theBrookings bombing. 11:0 0 a.m. Nixon meets with Haldeman,Ehr1ichman and Mardian.

Mardian In(1) Re National Securi ty taps

HRI!

:36514

Especial ly Special Coverage TapsBeecherSheehanHedrick Smithwould be disclosed

Doc l d:31443852


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(2 ) Southern D i s t r i c t o f New York~ l h i t n e y N. Seymour, J r .Summer InternsDisloyalLindsey-typesIncluding North Seymour

(3 ) lJI (:Hardian): a number o f documents ou tNSC hasH (Haldeman) has(4 ) H (Haldeman) r ecover documents from Haig(5) Pr e s id e n t - - ok ob ta in and des t roy a l l logs(6) Te l l Hoover to des t roy(7) M (r.!ardian) : Ordered only to go with grand ju ryshort of newspaper

~ i i t nes ses o r newspaperIndic tmentsAwait instruct ions from Attorney GeneralNow a t t h a t p o in tCan make Sheehan (? ) Ellsberg cases now(8 ) Pres iden t - - Let the committeesEastlandIchordHit the papers(9 ) E.G. Congres s iona l f i g h t CBSDon ' t ca l l newspapers before grand jury

(10) 10 year St a t u t e o f Limi ta t ionsEspionageAn inadequate s t a t u t eNeed to inquire re law i s adequate{II} M (Mardian): Question i s IehordEastland more dependable - -Has best lawyerKleindienst and M (Hardian) to Sen. E (Eastland)President reques t s him to

Do it soon(12) FBI going a l l out now(l3) We'l l not deny Iehord the s tu f fGet Eastland in too


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(14) Haig r e tu rn documents to FB IThen to &'.i (Hardian) fo r des t ruc t ionHaig r eques t the FBI (Sul l ivan) to des t roy allspec i a l coverageSull ivan wil l contact Mardian

(15) 20% o f source documents miss ing (El lsberg)Can ' t be found in Government f i l es(16) Mathias - - didn ' t d e l i v e r h is documents(17) Pr es i den t phone c a l l(18) Gelb the pr inc ipa l co-conspi ra tor

Also on July 12 , 1971 , there i s the i n i t i a l informationo f the " Plumbers Unit ."Post July 12 , 1 97 1 - -

Mardian dic ta tes memo concerning the San Clemente meeting.Next day , apparent ly a f t e r discuss ing the memo \V'ithKle ind iens t , Hardian des t roys th e memo and s tenograph icnotes .J uly 13, 1971

FBI memo to In t e rna l Secur i ty Div is ion \V'hich s t a t e stha t Ellsberg has never been overheard.J ul y 16, 1971

FBI memo to Internal secur i ty Division which s ta testha t H ~ l p e r i n , Warnke and Sheehan have been overheardon foreign establ ishment wiretap, but does not ment i onHalperin wiretap or an y other overhears from specia lcoverage taps.July 30 , 1971

l ' lells leaves the FBI to go to work for l-!ardian . Note!Wells l a te r t e l l s Smith tha t as of th is t ime he wass t i l l working \'1ith the wiretaps . Also, Kathy Stone ' sreco l lect ion t ha t she was to ld t ha t the wiretap records\-,ere over with "Brennan and ~ l e l l s


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August 4, 1971 - -t-f.ardian c a l l to lo1itchell followed immedia te ly byMitchel l ca l l to Sublivan . Liddy meets with Mardianand McGrath and i s to ld t h a t Nel l s w i l l head lEeand t h a t Hel l s i s the one man tha t Hoover f ear sbecause of th ings NeIls did for Hoover while he wasin the Bureau. (Note : I t is probably l ike ly t ha tNixon had conversa t ions \oJith Mitche l l a t t h i s t imeconcerning the "Hoove r threa t ," but we have no dailydiary information or notes t ha t can lead us to anysuch conversat ion.)

August 5 , 1971 - -Mardian m ~ e t s with Kissinger and s ta tes tha t Hooveri s e i the r blackmail ing or threatening to blackmai l thePresident with regard to the wiretap records .

August 10 , 1971Liddy memo to f i l es re meeting with Mardian. Duringt h i s meeting , Hardian recounts being in Kleindienst ' soff ice (Apri l , 1971) when Kleindienst received a ca l lfrom Hoover and Hoover threatened to reveal the wire taps.l-1.ardian does not t e l l Liddy tha t it i s a th r ea t to r e veal the wire taps, but only s ta tes t ha t apparent lyKleindienst d id not perceive what the th r ea t was.

August I I , 1971Young lis t of agenda of i tems to discuss with Ehrlichmaninclude "Hoover th r ea t - - Mardian knows what it i s . "Nixon meets vli th Ehrlichman. General discussion ofPentagon Papers case an d the progress of the SALT leakcase. Ehrlichman notes tha t Hoover i s scared to deathof the Pentagon Papers case because he i s af ra id that i fhe doesn ' t do it r igh t tha t it wil l hur t h is reputat ion.Ehrlichman also s ta tes t ha t Mitchel l has decided tha tPat Gray i s the person to replace Hoover and t ha t themethod of doing th is i s to have Gray go over as Hoover ' sdeputy for about s ix months and then become Director .

August 16, 1971E11sberg i s arraigned in Los Angeles. U.S. AttorneyRobert Meyer s ta tes tha t he i s authorized by the Jus t iceDepartment to s ta te t ha t El1sberg has never been overheard on any elect ron ic surve i l lance .


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August 28. 1971 - -Sull ivan sends h is l e t t e r to Hoover ci t ing a l l hisvar ious pol icy disagreements ...,ith Hoover 's administ r a t i on o f th e FB I .

Late August , 1971According to Brennan , Sull ivan goes to Nardian ' sof f i ce with the wire tap logs but l1ardian i s notthere . Sul l iv an then brings the satchel to Brennan ' soff ice and asks him to de l iver i t upon Mardian ' s return .Brennan does t h is but cla ims no t to have been a\'Iare o fthe contents o f the satchel .

Ear ly September , 1971 - -Nardian shows NeIls the wiretap records and suggestst hat Well s may be asked to take custody of ther ecords .

'" , id-September , 1971 - -Nixon meets with Hoover and Hoover t e l l s Nixon t ha the woul d be wi ll ing to l eave if Nixon f e l t t ha t hewas a l i ab i l i ty for Nixon in the 1972 campaign .

September 30 , 1971 - -Hoover f i res Sull ivan .

October 2 , 1971 - -Hi tchel l t e l l s Hoover tha t the wiretaps were removedf rom the FBI wi th Hoover ' s concurrence and tha t thewi re tap r ecords have been destroyed.

October 8 , 197 1l>1eeting of Ni xon with Ehr Hchman and H.i tchclL Mitchelldiscusses the fac t tha t Hoover i s searching a l l o v e rt rying to find the wiretap records and tha t t h i s mayl ead to a confrontat ion an d suggest t ha t , ra ther than1>1ardian holding the records , they be given to Ehrlichman .Nixon concurs and it i s agreed t ha t should Hoover con front Mitchel l , it wil l simply be s ta ted t ha t the wi re tap records are in the "President shands . "

October 8- 25, 1971 - -Mardian delivers the wiretap records to Ehrlicruman .


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October 25, 1971 - -Meeting o f Nixon and Ehrl ichman . Nixon and Ehrl ichrnand iscuss Liddy ' s memo on the FB I and dur ing the courseof t h i s meet ing , Nixon s ta te s t h a t \vith regard toHoover " \o,Ie have a man on our hands \"ho may br ingthe whole temple down ",i th him, including me. " Theygo on to d iscuss th e scenar io o f i n s t e a d of havingHoover re s ign , in January , 1972 , t h a t a t t h a t t imehe \'lOuld merely s t a t e t h a t t h i s i s h is l a s t yea r inth e Bureau and a f t e r th e 1972 e l e c t i o n , whoever i sP r e s id e n t can appo in t th e new Direc to r and t h a t he w i l lonly s tay on u n t i l a f t e r th e new D i r e c t o r i s conf i rmed .There i s al so a d iscuss ion t h a t Hoover might agree t oP at Gray be ing nominated as th e ne w D i r e c t o r .

November 1 , 1971 - -3:00 p.m. Ni t che l l meets tV'ith Hoover . It tV'as p r o b a b l ~ l a t t h i s meet ing t h a t Hi t che l l t e l l s Hoover t h a t th etV'ire tap l ogs have n o t been des t royed bu t a re inEhrl ichman ' s o f f i c e . Hoover l a t e r t e l l s th i s to F e l t .

November 2 , 1971Nixon meets \ ' lith Ehr l ichman . The t ape o f t h i s meet ingdoes n o t e x i s t , b u t n o t e s i nd i ca t e t h a t th e d i s c u s s io n s\'1ere g e n e r a l l y about s t r a t e g i e s f o r ge t t i ng r i d o f Hooverand t h a t t he r e i s no spec i f i c d iscuss ion o f the wi re tapproblem.


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Folder 9/19: Wiretaps

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Transcript of Folder 9/19: Wiretaps