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There is no evidence that the President had knowledge prior to March 21, 1973, of an alleged plot to obstruct justice after the break-in at the Democratic National Committee.
Conceding that Nixon congratulated his former counsel, John Dean, in a taped conversation as early as Sept. 15, 1972, for "putting your fingers in the dikes every time that leaks have sprung here and sprung there," St. Clair contended that Nixon was not referring to a "criminal plot to obstruct justice" but was speaking "in the context of the politics of the matter." The President, explained St. Clair, was concerned about Democratic exploitation of the affair and Democratic civil suits over the burglary. The brief claimed that Dean in his celebrated March 21, 1973, conversation with Nixon emphasized that the President was learning about the cover-up for the first time. Said Dean: "Well, I can just tell from our conversations that, you know, these are things that you have no knowledge of."
St. Clair also argued that it was FBI Director L. Patrick Gray III, rather than the President, who first suggested that the CIA may have been involved in the burglary. Thus, when Nixon told H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman to meet with top CIA officials on June 23, 1972, it was not an attempt by Nixon to thwart the investigation but a natural follow-up to Gray's expressed concern about possible CIA involvement in Watergate.
According to St. Clair, the President was totally unaware of any destruction of evidence by his aides in attempting to cover up the Watergate burglary and of any perjury by them until Dean told him of it on March 21.
The evidence shows that the President did not authorize the payment of Howard Hunt's attorney fees.
On the key charge that Nixon had approved the payment of hush money to E. Howard Hunt in that March 21 conversation, St. Clair repeated his familiar rebuttal: the payment was set in motion by Nixon's aides before this meeting. When Nixon told Dean, "For Christ's sakes, get it...", Nixon meant only to give Hunt "a signal" of White House concern, not to make a payment of cash. The President was unaware that a cash payment was made on the evening of March 21. Moreover, if it was, any such payment was meant not as hush money but as a legal contribution to Hunt's defense fees and for the support of his family.
The evidence establishes that the President carried out his constitutional responsibility to see that the laws were enforced.
As soon as Nixon learned from Dean on March 21 about the extent of the coverup, St. Clair argued, the President launched his own investigation to get all the facts. When Dean was sent to Camp David and failed to produce a report, Nixon turned the investigation over to Ehrlichman. As part of this White House probe, Ehrlichman called Attorney General Richard Kleindienst and told him to report directly to the President if the Justice Department found evidence of any wrongdoing by anyone in the White House or by former Attorney General John Mitchell. Moreover, rather than trying to hide the facts, Nixon urged all his aides to testify before the Washington grand jury investigating the burglary, without granting them immunity. This, according to