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Richardson, directed by the White House, kept pushing Cox. According to the report, Richardson suggested that the special prosecutor's charter should be rewritten and made more restrictive. For example, he thought Cox should not look into White House wiretapping of newsmen and Administration aides. Richardson asked that Cox accept a White House-supplied expert on national security as a consultant. Cox agreed, but on condition that the adviser be accountable only to him. Richardson then dropped the proposal.
In London last week, Richardson said he thought that he and his good Boston friend, Cox, had always worked out any differences in "a spirit of mutual understanding" and that "there were no confrontations at any point." This implied that he had not really expected Cox to accept his White House-initiated suggestions.
Historic Work. Looking ahead, the report had no particularly imaginative suggestions for avoiding Watergate-like agonies. It opposed creating a permanent special prosecutor's office, but said that any illegal acts and improper pressure exerted by White House officials normally should be investigated by the Justice Department. To shield the Justice Department from politics, the President should not nominate and the Senate should not confirm as an Attorney General anyone who has served as a top presidential campaign aide.
The report also suggested that Congress ought to clarify whether a President can be indicted for a crime while in office. Since there is a legal controversy over whether the Constitution permits this, it would take either a Supreme Court decision or a constitutional amendment to resolve the argument.
The report marked the end of the special prosecutor's most historic work, but the office will continue to handle unfinished business. The staff now has its fourth head, Charles Ruff, 36, a former official with the Justice Department's criminal division, who has been with the special prosecutor's staff since July 1973. He will oversee the arguments against those among the 50 individuals and corporations convicted of Watergate-related crimes who are appealing to higher courts. Most prominent among them are John Mitchell, John Ehrlichman, H.R. Haldeman and Robert Mardian.
Under Ruff, the special prosecutor's job will become only a part-time assignment. Clearly the historical pressure that once burdened the office has been relaxed. Long gone are those Nixonian days when the special prosecutor's staff was so distrustful of the White House that as the final report indicates, its members secreted vital documents in safe deposit vaults in two Washington banks and even buried copies of papers in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.