John Ehrlichman – Watergate Testimony – Evening Session – July 27, 1973 – Part 1 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
John Ehrlichman – Watergate Testimony – Evening Session – July 27, 1973 – Part 2 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
John Ehrlichman, in testimony before the Senate Watergate Hearings – the afternoon session from July 27, 1973. Ehrlichman, who was White House Counsel before becoming Domestic Adviser for President Nixon, was the creator and mastermind of that group of covert White House investigators known as The Plumbers, was at the center of the Watergate scandal. Included in the group were members E. Howard Hunt, G. Gordon Liddy, Egil Krogh and James McCord. The group had their beginnings in 1971 when members of the group broke into the office of Lewis J. Fielding, who was Daniel Ellsberg‘s Psychiatrist. Ellsberg was responsible for leaking the documents which came to be known as The Pentagon Papers. But the burglary was bungled and it eventually led to the Ellsberg case being dismissed for government misconduct. When Ehrlichman became Domestic Adviser to Nixon, he brought “the old team” back together for the bugging and burglary of the DNC offices at The Watergate.
But as the Watergate scandal grew in intensity, Nixon fired Ehrlichman and John Dean and H.R. Haldeman resigned. So when the Senate Watergate Hearings got underway, Ehrlichman was a key figure in the case.
Ehrlichman was anything but cooperative. After several days of contentious back-and-forth, his testimony was over, but his legal hot water was just starting. Ehrlichman would later be convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice as well as perjury and would eventually be sentenced to a year and a half in prison in 1975, stemming from the Watergate Trials which took place after the Senate Hearings.
This testimony comes from the second half (afternoon session) of Day Four, and one more day of testimony until it was on to the next witness in the seemingly endless story of twists, turns and intrigues of the Watergate Scandal.
More to be revealed.
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