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E: If Mitchell went in, that might knock that whole week into a cocked hat.
P: Why?
H: Well, I'm not sure then they care about the cover-up any more.
P: Well, they might.
E: If Mitchell gave them a complete statement—P: I wish they wouldn't, but I think they would, Bob.
The coverup, he said that—well, basically, it's a second crime. Isn't that right, John? ... Do you think they would keep going on the cover-up even if Mitchell went in?
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E: Well, I would certainly assume so.
Nixon instructs Ehrlichman to talk to both Mitchell and Magruder. Ehrlichman proposes a cautious, roundabout way of telling them that the President wants them to testify honestly about their roles. (Nixon here refers to himself in the third person.)
P: Well, you could say to Mitchell, I think you've got to say that this is the toughest decision he's made and it's tougher than Cambodia—May 8 [the mining of Haiphong harbor] and Dec. 18 [bombing of Hanoi] put together. And that he can't bring himself to talk to you about it. Just can't do it ... But John Mitchell, let me say, will never go to prison. I think that what will happen is that he will put on the damndest defense.
APRIL 14,1973, 5:15 P.M.
E.O.B. office. Present: the President, Haldeman and Ehrlichman.
Magruder has told his revised story, implicating Dean and Mitchell, to the prosecutors. Mitchell has rejected Ehrlichman's subtle pitch that he consider shouldering the blame. The scenario is falling apart. Dean has started telling federal prosecutors what he knew about the break-in and coverup. He has implicated Mitchell, Ehrlichman and Haldeman. That leaves the President a solitary, frustrated figure trying to hold the remaining pieces together.
P: Let me tell you, John, the thing about all this that has concerned me is dragging the damn thing out. And having it to be the only issue in town. Now the thing to do now, have done. Indict Mitchell and the rest and there'll be a horrible two weeks—a horrible, terrible scandal, worse than Teapot Dome and so forth. And it doesn't have anything to do with Teapot.
E: Yeah.
P: I mean there is no venality involved in the damn thing, no thievery or anything. Nobody got any papers. You know what I mean?
E: Yeah. That's true.
H: Glad to hear it.
P: The bad part of it is the fact that the Attorney General and the obstruction of justice thing which it appears to be. And yet, they ought to go up fighting. I think they all ought to fight.
APRIL 14,1973,11:02 P.M.
The Oval Office. A telephone conversation between the President and Haldeman.
P: I just don't know how it is going to come out. That is the whole point, and I just don't know. And I was serious when I said to John [Ehrlichman] at the end there, damn it all, these guys that participated in raising money, etc., have got to stick to their line—that they did not raise this money to obstruct justice.
H: Well, I sure didn't think they were.
P: At least I think now, we pretty much know what the worst is. I