Richard Nixon

“ President Nixon: Oh, no. No. No. No. No. Bob, for Christ's sake, will you --look, the point that I make is let's suppose they get Mitchell. Then they're going to say now what about Haldeman and what about Chapin, and what about Colson and the rest? I've got to have a report indicating -- in other words, you've got all that whole Segretti crap in there. I want somebody to say, now look, here are the facts. None of the White House people were involved. There are no other higher-ups. The White House was not involved. ”

“ President Nixon: Maybe Haldeman?
H.R. Haldeman: Mardian. No, Mardian, I don't think has any personal desire to get me. I think he would--I know he hates Colson.
President Nixon: Does he?
H.R. Haldeman: They all do. And any Mitchell person does, 'cause Mitchell did.
President Nixon: You can make, you see, you can make a hell of a circumstantial case on Colson. He's the guy that, you know, he's Dean's buddy, and uh, Liddy, he knew well, apparently knew well--
H.R. Haldeman: Wasn't Dean's buddy.
President Nixon: I'm sorry--I meant Hunt's buddy.
H.R. Haldeman: Yeah, right. ”

“ President Nixon: Well, Mitchell's attitude toward you is not going to be personal -- it isn't going to be any better for Rogers. It would be toward Rush...
John Ehrlichman: Yeah, but how in the name of God can --
President Nixon: ...Rush is smart and he is tough. He's a good man. And, uh, he's a man, incidentally that we can consider --
John Ehrlichman: He can't argue the facts of this case, that's the point.
President Nixon: The point is, Rush is a man that I would cons- -- if you need a special man in the White House -- I was thinking last night that he is the best man I can think of... ”

“ Uh, the thing, John, is that there's nobody really that can do it except you.- And I know-how Mitchell feels. But you conducted this investigation. I would -- the way I would do it, Bob, you, you critique this, is I'd go up, and I'd say,...
H.R. Haldeman: Alright.
President Nixon: ..."The President's asked me to see you." That you have come in today with this report; these are the cold facts indicating; of course, that this does not indicate that, but the Grand Jury is moving swiftly, Magruder will be indicted, you think. Under the circumstances, time is of the essence. ”

“ John Ehrlichman:unintelligible.
President Nixon: ...to bring over to advise the President on this God-damn thing and -- no, and examine all the White House things, to look at all the FBI files, to look at your report, Dean report, the FBI files and give me a report. He's articulate, he's, he's, uh, before television he's, uh, respected among, uh -- he's one of the towering figures in the Ambassadorial world and in the bar. He is, he's no slouch. ”

“ Uh, another name -- uh, two other names that have occurred to me that I'll throw out, uh, one is Eliot Richardson and the other is, uh, uh, Kleindienst. There is another possibility and that's Henry Petersen. ”

“ H.R. Haldeman: He thinks (unintelligible) and that's the thing we've worried about all along, haven't we. That's uh, if somebody gets hit what will we do. But we can't worry about what we will do if he does anything. We'll have to deal with that. It's gonna expire.
John Ehrlichman: And this is one that will permit him--and it might help the Presidency, rather than damage it.
President Nixon: Uh, Bob, do you think there's something to be said for having John wait to talk to Magruder until after he's seen Mitchell? (Tape noise) something. Suppose you get stonewalled with Mitchell. ”

“ They raise -- you remember the Scottsboro case? Christ. The, uh, uh, the Communist front raised a million dollars for the Scottsboro people. Nine hundred thousand went into the pockets of the Scotts-, er, uh, Communists.
H.R. Haldeman: (Laughs) .
President Nixon: ...so it's common practice.
John Ehrlichman: Yeah.
President Nixon: Nevertheless, that's Hunt then saying about the payoff. Alright -- Hunt, on other activities: uh, Hunt then according to Colson was not, uh -- (tape noise) get into. What Colson meant about the door of the Oval Office. ”