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These denials had no chance of short-circuiting the Watergate investigations by either the Senate committee or the grand jury. With McCord talking freely, the focus shifted to whether either Liddy or Hunt would confirm McCord's charges of higher involvement. Hunt took the Fifth Amendment before the grand jury until U.S. Attorneys brought him before Judge Sirica and asked that he be granted immunity against further prosecution. The judge did so, and Hunt, who could then be charged with contempt of the jury if he did not respond, began answering questions. At week's end his testimony remained a secret, but he apparently failed to corroborate McCord's account.
Liddy went through the same procedure, but after getting immunity, he still refused to answer questions. He will face contempt action this week. His lawyers indicated that he would continue to claim Fifth Amendment protection as long as his earlier Watergate conviction is under appeal. He has been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Though the grand jury may indict others for criminal violations in the Watergate bugging, the Senate committee investigation poses the greatest threat to the Nixon Administration. It is headed by North Carolina Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr., 76, whom Nixon has described as "a great constitutional lawyer." Once the folksy but determined Ervin begins quizzing reluctant witnesses in televised hearings, probably beginning in May, the national interest in Watergate is bound to soar.
Much of the present White House maneuvering may be designed to keep Administration figures out of any such television roles. Ziegler hinted that some kind of informal Senate appearance by White House aides may be offered, although he said it would have to be in private meetings closed to the press. Nixon told his aides that they must appear if summoned by a grand jury. Some Administration officials, including Colson and Magruder, have already done so, but these sessions were held behind closed doors.
The offer of private informal appearances is not expected to satisfy Ervin. He has threatened to cite with contempt of the Senate and then have jailed anyone who refuses to testify openly and under oath. The committee could seek arrest warrants, although that would probably lead to a momentous court battle rather than to immediate jailing.
Republicans on the Ervin committee seem just as determined to get at the truth. Connecticut Republican Senator Lowell P. Weicker Jr. charged last week that "somebody still in the White House" had directed political espionage far broader than just the bungled Watergate affair. But Weicker was not yet ready to name that official. He claimed that the McCord revelations were really part of a plot, presumably hatched by one or more high Administration officials, to mislead the Senate investigation by making it appear "that G. Gordon Liddy is the beginning and the end of this operation." The Weicker theory is that since McCord is citing Liddy as his main source of information—and since Liddy will not talk—McCord's charges cannot be proved.