Impeachment Inquiry

Present: Representatives Rodino (presiding), Donohue, Brooks, Kastenmeier, Edwards, Hungate, Conyers, Eilberg, Waldie, Flowers, Mann, Sarbanes, Seiberling, Danielson, Drinan, Rangel, Jordan, Thornton, Holtzman, Owens, Mezvinsky, Hutchinson, McClory, Smith, Sandman, Railsback, Wiggins, Dennis, Fish, Mayne, Hogan, Butler, Cohen, Lott, Froehlich, Moorhead, Maraziti, and Latta.

Impeachment inquiry staff present: John Doar, special counsel; Albert E. Jenner, Jr., special counsel to the minority; Samuel Garrison III, deputy minority counsel; Bernard W. Nussbaum, senior associate special counsel; Evan A. Davis, counsel; Richard H. Gill, counsel; R. L. Smith McKeithen, counsel; James B. F. Oliphant, counsel; George Rayborn, counsel; Hillary D. Rodham, counsel; Gary W. Sutton, counsel; William A. White, counsel; Fred G. Folsom, tax consultant; Robert McGraw, investigator; and Jonathan Flint, research assistant.

Committee staff present: Jerome M. Zeifman, general counsel; Garner J. Cline, associate general counsel; and Franklin G. Polk, associate counsel.

Also present: James D. St. Clair, special counsel to the President; John A. McCahill, assistant special counsel.

The CHAIRMAN. Before we proceed, before we hear from Mr. Doar, I would like to take this opportunity to extend a happy birthday wish to our counsel, Mr. Albert Jenner. I know that even though this is another year, he is as young and as blithe in spirit as anything. So many happy returns of the day. [Applause.]

Mr. JENNER. Mr. Chairman, for the convenience of the members, you have received two documents in your envelope. They go in tab 49 1 [50] in the book and tab 62 [63]. Tab 62 [63] is the letter from

1 NOTE. The tab numbers cited throughout the three volumes of executive sessions refer to paragraphs in previously printed publications of the Committee on the Judiciary entitled "Statement of Information" consisting of 12 books containing 21 separate volumes and "Statement of Information Submitted on Behalf of President Nixon", 4 books, all released by the Committee on the Judiciary during July and August, 1974.

The paragraphs of book IV were renumbered prior to publication. The numbers in brackets refer to the paragraph numbers in the printed volume."

Mr. Cox to Mr. Shaffer and paragraph 49 [50] is the court of appeals decision.

Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Chairman, I would like to direct an inquiry to the Chair.

On national television last night, Mr. St. Clair advocated that all of the presentment to date made over the past 4 or 5 weeks by the staff to the committee be made public, be put on the public record. My question to the Chair is is this a request in writing from Mr. St. Clair on behalf of the respondent?

The CHAIRMAN. Well, the Chair will advise the gentleman that so far as he recollects, Mr. St. Clair sometime back-I do not recall when, but there was a letter that was addressed to the Chair by Mr. St. Clair, in which he pointed out that there had been some material that had been leaked out, to use the word. I do not know that he used that word, but that was the tenor of the letter, and in the light of those leaks, that they were prejudicial and that Mr. St. Clair made a request of the committee that we would not only conduct our sessions in public view and openly, but that we would also make public whatever material had been developed. I believe that that was the letter that was addressed to us sometime ago.

Do you recall, Mr. Doar?

Mr. DOAR. Yes; we did receive such a letter that all material received in executive session be made public. We received that letter.

The CHAIRMAN. But the committee, of course, decided otherwise. Mr. EDWARDS. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Of course, remember, this is going to be an item that is going to be discussed in one of the business meetings that will be, I think, taking place sometime early next week, the question as to whether or not material will be made public, what material, if any, will be made public that has been developed in these executive sessions. Before asking Mr. Doar to proceed with today's presentation, I would like to call attention to the fact that this morning's report respecting the deductions taken by the President for the gift of papers contains 10 exhibits of documents which we have obtained from the IRS. I would like to point out that in my judgment, it would be improper to release these documents at this time. The committee members, I know, must have these in connection with the report that is in front of the book. However, there has been a recommendation on the part of counsel-I believe that it is absolutely imperative that we take the report respecting the deductions out of the front of the book and then have them pick up the notebooks at the end of the presentation so that these do not get out to the newspapers. I think when the committee votes what documents to make public, it can then review these documents and edit them and summarize them in whatever way they feel they want to make them available for publication if the committee so decides.

I would seriously advise every member in the light of what has been, I am sure, called to the attention of everyone here, the fact that the question of leaks has become something that I think every member of this committee ought to view very seriously, since I must say that I believe it is not only unfortunate, but I think it is doing the committee a great disservice.

Mr. McCLORY. Mr. Chairman, may I just concur in what you have just said and admonish all members, Republicans and Democrats alike, that the very reputation of this committee is at stake and is threatened by the leaks which have emanated from the committee. I am hopeful that we can have that well in mind, because I think that even more important, perhaps, than the decision we make is the respect of this committee and the reputation of this committee before the American people.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Doar.

Mr. DOAR. Mr. Chairman, after I sent you that memorandum this morning with respect to the documents, I called Commissioner Alexander just to verify the status of documents which were received under the executive order. He called my attention to section 301.6109 (a) and (b) of the regulations. Those sections provide that any information-and that is the information we are presenting this morning-obtained from the IRS by such committee or subcommittee shall be held confidential, provided, however, that any portion thereof relevant or pertinent to the purpose of the investigation may be submitted by the investigating committee to the appropriate House of the Congress.

Therefore, under the regulations, it would be my judgment that the committee would not-should hold these documents-that is, the documents themselves-confidential until they submit their report and that when the record is made public, that the documents be summarized in some fashion if the committee feels that they are pertinent to the presentation.

Now, we would like to distribute these documents for the members of the committee. This report contains in the front of the book a report respecting the deductions taken by the President in connection with his gift of pre-Presidential papers. The deduction was taken in the years 1969 through 1972.

In the back of the book are the 10 exhibits to which you and I have. heretofore referred. The material is detachable and the report in the front of the book summarizes the data that we have.

With me this morning are two members of the staff, one of whom you have met before: Bernie Nussbaum of the bar of the State of New York, and Smith McKeithen, also of the bar of the State of New York, whom you have not met before.

Also, in connection with the tax matter, with your authority, acting under your authority, we hired two tax consultants to advise with the staff in connection with this matter that is a special field of law. We have one of those consultants with us this morning. He is sitting at my far left. That is Fred G. Folsom, who is a member of the bar of the State of Colorado since 1939. He served in the Tax Division of the Department of Justice from February 1948 through December 1972. He was a section chief of the Criminal Section of the Tax Division for a good many years. He is here to participate in the presentation and answer questions that the committee members may have with respect to this matter.

Now, there are a couple of matters that I would like to call to the committee members' attention about this presentation before we

« Նախորդը Շարունակել »

Books

Impeachment Inquiry: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, House ...