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Nixon ordered Watergate break-in, ex-aide saysDean: 'Shred of evidence' supports Magruder's claim
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former White House counsel John Dean said Sunday there's at least a "shred of evidence" to support a new allegation that President Nixon ordered the Watergate break-in. The widespread belief is that Nixon was forced to resign because of his role covering up the break-in, but that he didn't order the crime to begin with. Jeb Stuart Magruder, who was Nixon's deputy campaign director, says he heard the president tell John Mitchell, who was running Nixon's re-election campaign in 1972, to go ahead with a plan to break into the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate complex and bug the party chairman's phone. Magruder, in a PBS documentary set to be broadcast Wednesday and in an Associated Press interview last week, says he was meeting with Mitchell on March 30, 1972, when he heard Nixon tell Mitchell over the phone to go ahead with the plan, the AP reported Sunday. The break-in took place June 17 of that year. Whether Nixon had advance knowledge has gone unanswered for three decades since former Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee first asked, at hearings of the Senate Watergate Committee, "What did the president know, and when did he know it?" Dean told CNN on Sunday that he was surprised by Magruder's revelation but has since found an intriguing White House tape he thinks might bolster Magruder's claim. "It's something I had never heard before Magruder made it, and I can't say that I have any evidence that [he is] right," Dean said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer." "I can't say I have any evidence that he is wrong." After being made aware of Magruder's comments late last week, Dean said he began to review Nixon's White House tapes and found "a little shred of evidence" to support Magruder's claim. "I found that in March of 1973, that Bob Haldeman, the White House chief of staff, was told by one of the lawyers over at the re-election committee that Jeb was saying to them that the plan to break in the Watergate had been approved by the president," Dean said. "And it's very interesting -- Nixon has no reaction on the tape that I saw." The finding would suggest Magruder was making the same allegation during the Watergate scandal. But for whatever reason, it was not publicized. Asked by the AP why he never came forward with his information, Magruder replied, "Nobody ever asked me a question about that."
Magruder said that even in the Senate Watergate Committee hearings, he was never specifically asked whether the president was involved. He said he would have told the truth if asked. Dean said he wished Magruder would have revealed his knowledge 30 years ago "when it wasn't just a bit of historical minutiae" but was a central part of the Watergate scandal. Still, "I can't imagine why Jeb would have any motive to lie at this point," Dean said. Magruder pleaded guilty to conspiracy and perjury charges stemming from the break-in and was jailed for seven months. He later became a Presbyterian minister. Dean said part of the reason Magruder refrained from discussing the detail was because it might reflect negatively on his congregation. "But he said now seemed to be the time -- that he wanted to get it on the historical record," Dean told CNN. Although he admits to being surprised by Magruder's claim, Dean said he suspected Nixon had authorized the burglary because of tapes in which the president ordered other break-ins. Nixon calls for a break-in at the Brookings Institution at least three different times, Dean said. One tape records the president asking Haldeman whether he authorized the break-in at the psychiatrist's office of Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, because he can't remember whether he did. "I think you have a mentality there [with Nixon] who certainly could have approved this," Dean said, "and now I think we have to scour the tapes a little bit more closely to see if, indeed, we can find more of what Magruder's saying." Revelation in documentaryMagruder makes the assertion in the PBS documentary "Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History." The way Magruder tells the story, Nixon knew everything from the beginning. Magruder says that on March 30, 1972, he met with Mitchell and discussed a plan by G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent, to break into the Democratic Party headquarters to bug Democratic Party chairman Larry O'Brien's phone. Magruder said Mitchell asked him to call Haldeman to see "if this is really necessary." Haldeman told him "yes," Magruder said, and then asked to speak to Mitchell. Mitchell and Haldeman talked, and then "the president gets on the line," Magruder said. Magruder told the AP he knew it was Nixon "because his voice is very distinct, and you couldn't miss who was on the phone." Magruder said he could hear Nixon tell Mitchell, "John, ... we need to get the information on Larry O'Brien, and the only way we can do that is through Liddy's plan. And you need to do that." Mitchell got off the phone, Magruder said, and told him: "Jeb, tell Maury Stans to give Liddy $250,000 and let's see what happens." Maurice Stans was Nixon's commerce secretary and later was chief fund-raiser for the re-election campaign as head of the finance committee. Magruder concedes that he did not hear every single word while Nixon was on the phone with Mitchell, but "I heard the import," he said. Mitchell, Haldeman, Stans and Nixon are all dead. John Taylor, executive director of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation, told the AP there is no evidence Nixon ordered the break-in. "Indeed, all existing evidence demonstrates that he was shocked and surprised that it had occurred and spent weeks, if not months, attempting to find out why," Taylor told the AP. Dean went to prison for four months for his role in the scandal. Haldeman and Mitchell also served prison terms. Liddy served more than four years, then became a radio talk-show host and made speeches characterizing Dean as the project's mastermind. Dean has called the allegation "baloney." In all, 25 people went to jail for their roles in the break-in or the attempt to cover it up. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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