All The President — страница 3

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coordinator for CRP. The two co-plotters were Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt. Their arrest eventually uncovered a White House-sponsored plan of surveillance of political opponents and a trail of conspiracy that led to many of the highest officials in the land. A secret fund that contained more than $300,000 was designated for sensitive political projects. Gordon Liddy, Jeb Magruder, Herbert Porter (Scheduling Director, CRP), H.R. Haldemen (President’s chief of staff), and Herbert Kalmbach (Deputy Finance Chairman, CRP) had control of the fund. All were principal assistants of John Mitchell, Campaign Director, CRP. This money was kept in a special account at CRP. They were funds for Watergate espionage. A $25,000 cashier’s check intended as a contribution to the Nixon reelection

effort was deposited into a Miami bank account of Bernard Barker in 1972. The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, ordered an immediate audit of the Nixon campaign finances. The audit report concluded that former Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans, the chief Nixon fund-raiser, had an illegal cash fund of $350,000 in his office safe. The $25,000 from the cashier’s check and another $89,000 from four Mexican checks passed through that fund. This cash supply was used, in part, as an intelligent-gathering fund. Campaign Contributions The Watergate money trail exposed a multitude of Nixon administration financial crimes and illegalities. The serial numbers on the money the Watergate burglars carried (as well as the name of their paymaster, Howard Hunt, found

in the address book of one of the burglars) led investigators to a Miami bank and an account set up by the Campaign to Re-elect the President. Eventually investigators would examine the records of the activities of Maurice Stans, former attorney general John Mitchell, and Secretary of the Treasury John Connally. They discovered a host of unethical and allegedly illegal campaign fund-raising operations. Major corporations were told to contribute at least 100,000 dollars each. It was understood that the donations could easily buy the companies influence with the White House. Many large corporations went along. Connally accepted bribes from a dairy organization eager to have the Nixon administration increase price supports. There were also efforts to pressure corporate contributors

by threatening investigation by the Internal Revenue Service or Environmental Protection Agency, attempts to avoid contributor disclosure laws, and offers of favorable legislation in return for campaign contributions. Eighteen corporations and twenty-one corporate executives admitted making illegal contributions for the 1972 campaign. Kalmbach acknowledged raising and distributing large sums of money that were later used for illegal purposes. He promised an ambassador a better assignment in return for a $100,000 contribution. The International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation made a $400,000 campaign contribution in return for a settlement of an antitrust suit. Maurice Stans later pleaded guilty to charges relating to illegal handling of campaign funds. Cover-up Immediately

following James McCord’s arrest, members of the Nixon administration began a cover-up of McCord’s connection with the White House. Memos and written files connecting him and his superior, Hunt, to the White House were destroyed. More than $187,000 in bribes – “hush money” – was paid to Hunt, McCord, and the other burglars to keep them from discussing their ties to the White House. Jeb Magruder and John Mitchell denied any association to Hunt and McCord before a grand jury. A cover story was made up by White House chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, domestic policy assistant John Erlichman, and the president’s lawyer John Dean. They were to say that the burglary was part of a CIA operative, vital to national security. On June 23, 1972, President Nixon authorized the

cover-up, but the CIA refused to cooperate. So the Nixon administration successfully applied political pressure to delay several trials and investigations of the burglary until early 1973. Nixon ordered his aides to block any information to investigators. Magruder and others destroyed incriminating documents and testified falsely to official investigators. L. Patrick Gray, acting director of the FBI, destroyed documents given to him by Ehrlichman and Dean. Collapse of the Cover-up In January of 1973 seven indicted men were tried before Judge John Sirica in the United States District Court in Washington, D.C. Four of the men arrested the night of the burglary plead guilty along with Howard Hunt. James McCord and Gordon Liddy were convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal