[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, July - September, 1974] Page: 9 of 236
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axon Accused of Contempt ofHoggChronicle News Services
Washington - President Nixon's last-minute effort to prove
his innocence in the Watergate cover-up by offering the
House Judiciary Committee the edited transcript of part of a
taped conversation he previously had refused to turn over
provoked sharp criticism from committee members.
Among the most angered was Rep. Barbara Jordan, D-
Houston.
"I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe it," she said. "It
focuses on the utter contempt the President holds for the
House of Representatives."Chairman Peter W. Rodino, D-N..J, said it showed "there
has been an effort to keep from the committee evidence that
it should rightfully have had" for its inquiry into whether the
President should be impeached.
Rodino said the committee would give "serious considera-
tion" to whether the President's refusal to turn over relevant
material should in itself be made an impeachable offense. He
noted that the committee subpoenaed 149 tapes of presiden-
tial conversations, most of them dealing with Watergate. The
President responded by providing edited transcripts of less
than 40 and then issuing a flat refusal to turn over anything
more dealing with Watergate.James D. St. Clair, the President's lawyer, contends that
the sole issue that could constitute impeachable conduct is
whether the President in his March 21, 1973, conversation
with then White House counsel John W. Dean III, ordered or
acquiesced in payment of hush money to Watergate conspira-
tor E. Howard Hunt.
St. Clair siid that, in an effort to show the President's
innocence, he handed the committee a 2 -page edited tran-
script of a one-hour-and-24-minute conversation the Presidenthad the following
Haldeman.day with his then chief of staff, H. R.
St. Clair said that the gist of the President's remarks to
Haldeman were that he was unaware of payments to Hunt at
the time and disapproved when he found out about them.
There was little support among Judiciary Committee mem-
bers for St. Clair's effort to press the March 22 transcript on
them in closing arguments.
Rep. George Danielson, D-Calif., protested that it was im-
proper for a lawyer in closing argument to offer evidence not
already in the record.
Rep. John Seiberling, D-Ohio, called it an "outragous
(See LAST-MINUTE, Page 2)UPI Telephoto
REPS. BARBARA JORDAN, LEFT, AND PETER RODINO, UNIDENTIFIED MAN, CENTER
Pair Angered Over Release by James St. Clair of Long-Sought Transcript.
. ZPA:
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[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, July - September, 1974], book, 1974; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616583/m1/9/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Southern University.