Seven Charged, a Report and a Briefcase
[They] unlawfully, willfully and knowingly did combine, conspire, confederate and agree together and with each other, to commit offenses against the United States ... [They] would corruptly influence, obstruct and impede ... the due administration of justice ... and by deceit, craft, trickery and dishonest means, defraud the United States.
With those words, a federal grand jury composed of 23 American citizens last week presented a grave and most exceptional charge: a criminal conspiracy existed "up to and including" the present at the highest levels of Richard Nixon's Administration. The accused include four of the President's most intimate and influential former official and political associates. And by clear implication in the language of the indictment, the jurors disclosed their belief that the President has lied about at least one potentially criminal act of his own in the still-spreading scandal.
Nor was that all. Going beyond the indictment, which was carefully framed with the aid of Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski and his staff, the Watergate grand jury took on its own initiative a step that portends serious consequences for the President. In a hushed and tense Washington courtroom, Jury Foreman Vladimir Pregelj delivered a sealed report to Federal Judge John Sirica. The judge solemnly opened the envelope, quickly scanned a covering letter, then resealed it. Without a word on when—or if—the contents would be made public, Sirica ordered the envelope locked in a courthouse safe.
There was little doubt that the report contains the grand jury's critical assessment of Nixon's role in the conspiracy to conceal the origins of the wiretapping and burglary of Democratic headquarters in June 1972. The report may also spell out the grand jury's reasons, presumably on constitutional grounds, for not now indicting the President.
In making that decision, the grand jury, perhaps with some reluctance, was undoubtedly following Jaworski's own instincts. Since there is no precedent for indicting a sitting President, Jaworski feared that indicting Nixon might touch off a long and nationally divisive series of court battles ending in a Supreme Court decision in favor of the President. Such a prospect is particularly unnecessary when there is an impeachment inquiry under way in the House, where the Judiciary Committee is ready and eager to secure all evidence either implicating or exonerating the President of wrongdoing.
Undoubtedly at the grand jury's direction, members of Jaworski's staff also gave to Sirica a locked and bulging briefcase. It is believed to contain transcripts of White House tape recordings, documents and other evidence that was gathered painstakingly—and often despite dogged resistance from Nixon—by Jaworski and his fired predecessor, Archibald Cox. The evidence almost certainly is meant to support any charges made in the report against Nixon. The briefcase is also expected to reach the House impeachment investigators if that should be the course Sirica elects.
Sirica has several options in handling the sealed report and the apparently explosive evidence now in his possession. He can order it promptly dispatched to the House Judiciary Committee—a move seen as most probable. He