1973 Watergate Hearings; 1973-08-02; Part 4 of 6

it's b i jumped up and i found out what happened on the region question whether the violation question that you might have to the mets won that in london because of the extraordinary service for your country you know i like to be worthy of your comments on iran at the time that these men were arrested it did not seem to me that the proper thing for me to get into the affair as to why they've been arrested or their parents just didn't seem like a bit of that overseas a big event that did not seem to me that it was a proper

job hameed undertaken investigate how they got marijuana been arrested our study misunderstood <unk> now continue to do nothing i have asked you by way of protesting the situation where europeans shouldn't let anything that adventure i continue to have an enormous respect and admiration for you for what you've done and what you will do and i appreciate you just one question could new conclusion that if you don't think i'm an investigative reporter as a walkway at the entrances to the probation which you operate that you have the cia has no functioning respect you and unsecured within his own organization

security so on june seventeen nineteen seventy two remember the cia or the cia know it was not the cia or the cia was mr mcguire are the cia was mr matt martinez of current cia mr martin yes because your relationship and asked jennings to innovation the

would be that have been filed this is the interim ceo hiro whoa remember the cia knows that what was formerly the only member of the cia and all these matters on june seventeenth nineteen seventy two mr martinez you're going to have these men to the fbi yesterday went soon as the i don't know the precise that the fbi inquiry into the agency about the background of these men arrested and we start buying information

from that day it's been updated you're responsible for yes i think so i think i should make it clear when an individual resigns our attention the cia at the end of its identification agency as far as we're concerned that last

point has no way of keeping a string on people like us so when they walk out the door that turned into a badge this is finished unless some sort of a contractual measure relationships is that this is not the case with these hours of the morning see the same token white house there were also important so it feels it thing is being overblown the police this week the committee broke

for lunch just as the questioning started to reveal the differences between some committee members public television's coverage of the senate hearings will continue after we pause for station identification on average coverage of these hearings is provided as a public service of the member stations of pbs the public broadcasting service fb to pass by the

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hearings by the senate select committee on presidential campaign activities here again correspondent robert mike knew as we pick up the testimony again assistant chief counsel david larson was questioning richard helms the committee will come out of an interrogation without a chairman of the normal contacts from the white house to the cia was there much contact we used to curl up in a reasonable and the cia the new diesel cars that'll be

difficult i don't know any way to sustain myself and were many of these requests for information requests that the cia do something or writing things in meetings that would call the call one day particular activity when the white house was redoing the method of classification documents and the licensing procedures that the classified documents recent meetings allowed to rewrite these regulations are representing at least one of the two now in connection with the west in july of nineteen seventy one with the cia for support as you understand it during the nineteen

seventies when you were am i correct that witnesses john walters was asked to go to actually rape and ehrlichman you that paul stevens did you make any connection subsequently two deputies well i don't know whether they were the fact checker appointees of this administration it's not just about whether old friends and unfortunately had to do with the moderator which of these considerations of art now you aware of prior to the may twenty second nineteen seventy two announcement by the president of the organization known as the plumbers for the fact that i was such an organization in the white house in the late nineteen nineties

we have to meet with the investigative unit of the white house now with respect to the material supply chain power and it referred to the way against a fairly famous it was the way that was applied to mr hunt by the cia the same way that allegedly i saw you do it so the agency technician the unraveling of the entire cia because it was such a lousy day

mr helms basset hounds are you familiar with the memorandum which there was recovering from our interview with the date august twenty three nineteen seventy one on this is that her but others like that do it

and it's important to be supportive of a new energy julie the really slipped to us please including abortion which understand is in general questions and writing and organizing your art here for this is guidance on how to handle bees leno back and says that the request please let me know and i'll speak to him about it once congratulations mr holzer this morning

nineteen seventy one and refresh our recollection was that one of us was this i pulled on friday and explain why the west is becoming a pain in the neck john surgeons drained ponds sohn why didn't you wrote that the correct answer i do i do and i like that the methodology meanwhile west should not

and the signature machines the dc on for defensive position in the cia what is the executive assistant in one of your conversations with him this morning you know like a general question with holes earnings that us operations i don't specifically was to counsel all i recall i said

this morning that when it came to him and ask for this assistance he said it was for a long time and you know whether it mr holmes was linked to the cia september third nineteen seventy one would have been given as the date of the burger i don't know i have heard it said that was not apparent that's really sure that with accurate information that was somehow my impression that he did not support the rights of the cia obviously was returned with a reporter was not was but you know now

for the white house let's observe individual question asked me in july august of nineteen seventy three after all the evidence that's been the rock oh i think that i think most people michael and the last years of the sentence service with the cia he was given a somewhat different assignment or explain

this morning he's out i can only assume that we're taking these human factors into consideration and have a sign at a place where a candidate himself the question arises whether ms johnson yes and not terribly long road seems to me that it was at the end of last year thank you which the precise details of my recollection is so as

warner the agency visited mr henley peterson justice department of an institution that was general sober and naturally all individuals were and the question came up mr cuomo yeah as best days go by and one day i got a call to being who has said that he had understood the state against peterson the man who sponsored this pond and the mr owens remembers that the recent confusion my recollection of the conversation with a nice

gentle push on this matter and there i thought to get the information from him as damon said he felt partly a meeting to discuss this nice and five be sure that you have the question of the day that telephone call me was called the sterling wins office where i went to this meeting with mystical reasons mystical rid of the conversations and we found was to leave office mr erlichman was dealing with the two most general question was not there i used to call them to task to explain what he had to say an even so i'm mr lippman as i recall and said that he didn't remember these conversations are this conversation with a general question ms

levy no now also if memory serves when i got that first telephone call with mystical wouldn't tell general questions we might be coming out to do to be prepared for was there a meeting usually the only one during the recess twenty nineteen seventy seven she doesn't trust funds to my recollections mentions morning's testimony when i said this of the fbi started as these questions about these

factory work with respect to the sun to power pigeons these are status again what contacts in terms of treating them for speaking to general was before he wrote it personification of the conversations i do if i recall he wrote several of the same day another words he was catching up with the twenty thirteen i think he wrote of the twenty six and twenty seven and there may be another search is on to record their intimate when he was writing them

all to catch up and then i began to leave after that he began to write the record is susie happening so this was a bestseller i don't want these various memoranda because he reportedly the confidence of these they are arranged time and i didn't feel that captures our current constraint to me to every line to be sure this is exactly what people distrust on this record if you didn't approve them to the extent of making sure that they were generally accurate sector accounting service and the war general motors rhodesia memorandum get ready articulated that you almost immediately after the circumstances what occurred right now there are some questions morning as to whether or not the president's daily june twenty third nineteen seventy two the election this

fall presence which i did not apply when for the first time you take note of your difference with the general i believe we discussed it that time so that was amazing it's very interesting now one question that i think this is quite

important during say in june twenty thirteen we asked whether there was any involvement by the cia does that work we're so i ask this i believe i would go and the reply no and now for this the whole them in terms of john walters and told him to go and speak to it was the question directed at you further investigation by my father isis operations the cia had on this point was ever put to either of us in the form of a question my recollection is my recollection that jonah was

asked to go on speaking yesterday about this because of the possibility that by the cia operations i was not asked whether it wouldn't it wouldn't you come and one way of the act that he has to live with you blame it can cover such operations was a discussion that's a concern was wrong at any time that the cia announced that it was conducting an investigation into the war you know yes no republican lds know was a decision made within the cia that there would be an investigation avoiding talking about race there was no public announcement

recently became this morning all right and in my career the cia a mini any relevant information see about the status of the fbi while vieux taking place in june july august of nineteen seventy so i don't believe so does the record show that messages that your knowledge i have no knowledge of the country i don't either but i just want to be sure that that my recollection of the facts

so that i can see it in the journal that doesn't get you going to get do you do with the jubilee at the view is no lincoln's words or i don't know a new unity government i think the sure that we discussed why they made that we've been asked to do and what was behind the information together and i'm sure his associates were there you know was one of the

beaches one will this was all about you know why for example he waited until twenty eighteen twenty eighteen will propose for influenza ms thomsen i don't know that he will certainly be able to testify to that is that is i indicated this morning i don't remember anymore which one of this was one sided only just agreed in a conversation together and a request for the agency but at that time it seems that would put some of this on the record because this was getting a bit far afield and until rather strange area we thought and that these various media caught up and i think that's the

point resistance and i was helping the point here it is my recollection country what those memoranda show that was on tuesday the second meeting with this debate was being made mentioned vale sorry for us general laurent memorandum indicating that comes on the money and because my recollection is that they came on the tuesday that it was after that that i said we agree that you should write these memoranda and therefore he wrote the first of them on the very next day that

i don't know in his memory witnesses twenty one i don't know that the reason that i cling to my recollection this particular case is that the question of bail it

i think so i think it's a combination other questions thank you mm hmm

twenty eight the next witness is marine corps commandant robert cushman was that the director of the cia in nineteen seventy one when the agency provide assistance at our mission was fifty eight years old and a graduate level again he was an aide to then vice president nixon from nineteen fifty seven to nineteen sixty one you're in the navy cross the lesion american non starter more to those limits and they need to head the marine corps last year fb is bleak ms

brown caf but please rise you solemnly swear that the testimony about to give this committee will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so deep seated please her it's my intention to continue with just eliminate faces examination council and then at the chairman of the members the committee have not yet returned to recess briefly while we await their return and not incidentally well i try to get like this well mr wood to go ahead and start on their questions

rolling plains robert we mentioned june and what is your dress white person's marine corps headquarters washington dc and you're going to the comment once keaton i se and your decision with the wrinkle is that when that he would call one january nineteen seventy two before there were to be deputy director of the central intelligence agency was an ad that position i was the last three years you know i don't have the outbreak taking officer exactly i think that was so on april fifteenth when i moved on to read that the director's chair victory april nineteen sixty eight law

december thirty one nineteen seventy three in nineteen seventy one when you receive a call the white house request in cia assistance and the white house but yesterday i received kong seventh of july nineteen seventy one a promise to serve the heart of the city and so to the white house on security matters that he would become increasingly and rhode island a man is that women are questioning beginning to get into the sense

that for the testimony of the members may have not yet returned to non christians and research has been you can get some logistical problems even a member of the committee so the proceedings would be essential but after a short pause assistant chief counsel james hamilton was able to continue his interrogation and gentle cushman saying we're going to reduce emissions or they come and around july seven nineteen seventy one when you see the color white house requesting cia assistance and the white house budget yes sir i knew some of the july nineteen seventy one i received a call when you stated

as best i can remember the words that howard hunt had been hired as a consultant the white house on security matters it would be coming to many of those women consider this request from this commitment to be there usually one of the commonplace reported this was the only such requests to call i used to get calls of course from other people's phone call on me and they were looking for jobs but i think in the white house with the exception of this is the only parent good morning

he was unusual annie well i had no reason to refuse that i could let go of that said save people regularly often on the physician who were looking for jobs or something just want to sell something to the agency that sort of thing journalism in the us with the abusive vision enable you to ascertain whether the request came within the cia here

masterson says request was simply that it was common policy and my mind recently established a bona fide mr conn as being employed by the white house the white house of course a former national security council was the boss of the cia and did you subsequently made a new law in july nineteen seventeen years and was a conversation that meeting yesterday what is it many of ivf wouldn't just be the tulips consequently i recorded the conversations on the right notes and within

three years the central intelligence agency the nineteen seventies thank you mms ab as the committee completes another roll call vote we're going to take a short break for the

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senate select committee on presidential campaign activities you again correspondent jim lehrer is we go back to the committee proceedings the former deputy director of the cia gen robert cushman is at the witness table and that general prescribe this your new about the entire meeting with wayne lee bbc one general clifton and they point to july nineteen seventy nine bbc this is trying to get that i have given you an accurate reporting of being being between you in this poem on that that i think a

disaster the vice chairman i liken this to be inserted into the first our judge will be received you know that what seems to have used the word inspiring patients and i said yes to call and they knew my case it was like that it was all clear in a july nineteen seventy one meeting between senior anc officials and even important in the additional minutes about the lesser known to me requested and the reasons

yes right up in the conversation was he got in the office saying that he'd been charged with a highly sensitive mission by the white house involvement interview a person who's eighty it was not certain that evolving out of disguise themselves and the president and i requested that the agency provide him with materials to establish that alias to mask his appearance or change it so that he would not be a viable to the person he was interviewing the vocalist and the us has developed a good use of asian fights so you could ascertain whether the cia assistance involvement in his mother would be permissible under the specter of jurisdiction now because i consider that

a onetime interview as he stated it was perfectly ok what made an assistance did you initially bravado i asked why an executive assistant does wide range with the technical services people in the agency who made lester hunt and to provide him with her what was necessarily and what was the assistance they gave into specific cases oh i found out later that they gave him a driver's license i believe a social security card things do st jude it was a lot like any requests for us it should be delivered

and said that he did not want to come back into the agency and that they be delivered to him mentions of years and you agree and they usually record with details i discussed it with my recollection know a couple days later as i recall idea seventh of july i was the acting director of the house was not present and that there were only a third is one announced a staff meeting about the phone call and i love to cut medicare in the twenty second of july it's the best of my recollection so report of the director proudly along with a lot of other

things that we talk about frequently whether he remembers a sight on how the last minute parker we said he didn't recall i think the idea is that your recollection general that he indicated his approval of the action to take yes but there come a time around the eighteenth of august nineteen seventy one when the spill but again to make additional demands and the agency yes ironically july nineteen seventy one hiya conveyed may not directly another big job interview or call it relayed through the system at one of the services we have reporters

was reportedly too that these new requests <unk> making was in conjunction with what he described as a new assignment even given the white house i do i do now since he was a vegan so it should be harder for any one of these violent crime grew up like many expenses of his jobs mostly by no one really could because you know this was not something that we could do would you outline for the committee the other questions that were made at the agency decided request or a sector which requested the agency landed and which ones were turned down yes

show sponsors and that request via get really gave me a lot about the at that was all over the other requests i didn't really find out about so they were accumulating and the technical services people began to worry about these requests they call my office to see whether the instructions still stood to help on our quality have been given a tape recorder and that he had been issued a camera we don't know another he brought in another man who might find

out that nineteen seventy three was probably living in another man on that topic but the concerns of people into giving false statements saul struck me that he was exceeding what he had told me he was going to do you and it was members of cell so we discussed it with the town's giant inside the coral was contained in a tirade patients that i believe so i never have seen any of the equipment and chill this year i never really saw was one of the nation and the camera with these violent about that but that's what i understand i'm thinking

i believe the technical services people asked for its return would not return with the exception of mental what do you know what it was like there's new interest i guess this was when we decided that that these requests were clearly escalating into improper or less and that they would involve cia people he wanted and he wanted to talk or be a monitor this in answering service would only wasn't there and it was so the speaker was just too much of the

cd set worse than i thought that he was so he was not exercising proper government or a passport law and what was that ok i'm trying to remain that we don't have to actually do a concert question you're on the phone call that on his instructions get to that data it was requested i don't have any knowledge of it

and the bird has returned now and is enjoyed my family as electric lot of the us or to understand great i think it was when i was in europe just before being called back to testify via oversight committees of the cia was her thirteenth of may i think they're about about the newspapers that way which he had nineteen seventy three served when you

do david those be the navy has already been the visually is the bestseller capital hill well as a number of these admitted into the record circumstances

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