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Factual Findings. The grand jury package, given to Judge Sirica on March 1, when the jurors also indicted seven of Nixon's former official and political associates in the cover-up conspiracy, does not draw conclusions as to whether Nixon acted illegally. But a summary of the evidence in the briefcase lists a series of factual findings by the grand jury that do implicate Nixon in the wrongdoing of his aides. Any such transmission of the evidence to the House by Sirica is likely to be appealed. John J. Wilson, the attorney representing two of the indicted conspirators, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, has vowed to appeal.
The delicate way in which the White House has been handling the grand jury report shows the deft touch of St. Clair. He surprised many Washington lawyers by raising no objection at all to the idea of Sirica's sending the report to the Rodino committee when the judge held an extraordinary hearing on the question on March 6. To oppose this move would make it appear that the President feared a revealing of the contents of the briefcase. But St. Clair well knew that Wilson, whose clients' interests in many respects dovetail with those of Nixon, would fight to squelch the grand jury's findings. Wilson promptly raised objections on the grounds that 1) the grand jury had no power to make such a report, and 2) the documents were likely to mention Haldeman and Ehrlichman, and any public disclosure could prejudice their chances for a fair trial.
While Wilson carries on the legal battle over the grand jury report, the President and his staff are expected to continue their public psychological warfare against Watergate. That attack last week was well orchestrated. First, Ken Clawson, the White House director of communications, leaked to reporters a Feb. 25 letter from John Doar, chief counsel for the Rodino committee, to St. Clair. It showed that Doar was seeking not only six additional Nixon tapes, as generally believed—even by members of the committee—but also tapes covering six periods of time, from February to April 1973. Presidential Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler said that this involved 42 tapes. The White House disclosure made the Doar request look excessive, though it by no means supported St. Clair's claim that the committee seemed to want "hundreds of thousands of documents and thousands of hours of recorded conversations."
The main aim of those White House revelations, however, seemed to be to try to drive a wedge between the Rodino committee's members and its staff, including Doar and the Republican counsel Albert Jenner. In an effort to prevent news leaks—as urgently demanded by the White House—Doar and Jenner had been keeping only the committee leaders, Rodino and ranking Republican Edward Hutchinson, posted on all details of their dealings with St. Clair. Clawson charged that Doar had tried to "hoodwink" the committee by keeping from the other members the