Citizen Hughes - Michael Drosnin [251]
Dean detailed his efforts to nail O’Brien on orders from Haldeman in Blind Ambition (pp. 66–68), and the memos he sent and received were obtained from files of the Senate Watergate Committee. Haldeman gave a similar account of the Hughes-O’Brien probe in Ends of Power (pp. 19–20, 153–56) and in a series of interviews. The entire operation by the White House was also detailed in an unpublished report by the staff of the Senate Watergate Committee.
Nixon’s renewed orders to get O’Brien were quoted by Haldeman in The Ends of Power (pp. 19–20, 154–56). “In the case of O’Brien,” noted Haldeman, “Nixon was acting very much like Captain Queeg in his search for the strawberries … here was Larry O’Brien a secret Hughes lobbyist—and no one cared.… And yet, as Nixon often said to me, how the press took after him on any possible connection to Howard Hughes!”
Intertel’s instigation of an IRS probe of Maheu was detailed by Andy Baruffi, the IRS agent in charge of the Hughes case, and confirmed by two other IRS agents directly involved. In an interview, Maheu confirmed his belief that he was the target of a conspiracy between the Hughes organization and the federal government. “I felt the pangs of government muscle within hours after I challenged Howard Hughes,” he said.
Danner told the Senate Watergate Committee that Rebozo called him right after Anderson’s August 1971 column appeared: “I think the subject was how did Anderson learn of this, and the answer was that he had been shown an alleged memo describing the details of the event.” Danner also testified that Anderson told him that Maheu had leaked the Hughes memo.
Greenspun’s September 1971 warning to Klein was confirmed by both Greenspun and Klein in interviews. Both Ehrlichman and Kalmbach confirmed in interviews that Ehrlichman sent Kalmbach to see Greenspun about the Hughes money, and Kalmbach and Greenspun gave similar accounts of their meeting. “I recall there being a need for someone to talk to Greenspun,” said Ehrlichman, “and I recall it being agreed—not just by me, but by a number of people, at the very least Haldeman, possibly Mitchell—that Kalmbach ought to call on him. I probably also discussed it with Rebozo.”
The Senate Watergate Committee noted in its final report that Rebozo paid $45,621 for improvements on Nixon’s Key Biscayne compound, and concluded that the only apparent source for at least half of that expense was the cash he received from Hughes.
Bennett informed the Senate committee that he told Colson about the Hughes memos in Greenspun’s safe late in 1971.
Ehrlichman confirmed in a series of interviews that he received IRS “sensitive case reports” on the Hughes probe, and provided a copy of one such report he received on July 24, 1972, which summarized political aspects of the IRS investigation. The John Meier–Donald Nixon dealings were recounted in that report and further detailed by Ehrlichman, who confirmed in the interviews that he kept Nixon informed on the probe.
Nixon’s story of the “loan” scandal was recounted by Ehrlichman. Haldeman gave a similar account of Nixon’s claims about that scandal.
The impact of the Clifford Irving affair on Watergate was first suggested by an unpublished report of the Senate Watergate Committee. In Blind Ambition (p. 390), Dean reported Haldeman’s orders to get a copy of Irving’s manuscript and also stated that “somebody from the White House got a copy from the publisher.” Bennett told the Special Prosecutor’s Office that both Colson and Dean contacted him about Irving’s book and recounted his conversation with Dean. FBI files obtained through the Freedom of Information