Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973 - Testimony of Gerald Alch
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973 - Testimony of Gerald Alch
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973 - Testimony of Gerald Alch United States Senate Caucus Room, Washington DC
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973 - Testimony of Gerald Alch
Mr. DASH. Now, Mr. Alch- Mr. ALCH. Yes, sir. Mr. DASH. Could you again tell us, you indicated what fee you received from Mr. McCord. What was that fee? Mr. ALCH. $25,000 plus expenses which expenses have not been received yet. Mr. DASH. Yes. Could you tell us in what form you received that money? Mr. ALCH. Periodic payments in cash with the exception of the last two installments which were in the form of cashier's checks in relatively smaller amounts of $1,700. The bulk of the money received was in cash in $100 bills. Mr. DASH. $100 bills. Did you have any knowledge or information or belief as to where the money was coming from? Mr. ALCH. No, sir, and I believe that in one of Mr. McCord's depositions he stated that at the time he paid me my fee he did not tell me where it came from except that it came from him.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973 - Testimony of Gerald Alch
Mr. DASH. Did you in October 1972 ever meet with Mr. McCord and urge him to urge the Committee To Re-Elect the President to give him more money so that you may have more additional fee? Mr. ALCH. No, sir. There was a conversation where, as I explained yesterday, the original payment of fees, the schedule of the original payment of fees was not being adhered to by Mr. McCord, and I asked him whether or not, when I might expect more money in accordance with the schedule that he had told me. He told me that, to bear with him, that it would be forthcoming, and I told him that I would.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973 - Testimony of Gerald Alch
Mr. DASH. Now, it was obvious, Mr. Alch, from the length of your statement, and the manner in which you delivered it, that you were quite upset with your former client's statement. What I would first like to do, and I think it would be helpful to isolate the specific statements made by Mr. McCord which you find and did find objectionable, and correct me if there are additional ones but I think there are two main areas that I have isolated in his statement and your statement. One, his statement in his memorandum of May 4, 1973, that on two occasions, one in the Monocle Restaurant, and another time in Boston that you suggested that he base his defense on CIA involvement, and in that the reference to what you might be able to do with Mr. Schlesinger in terms of forged documents and things of that nature. The second area of complaint is his statement that you participated in having him exposed to an offer of Executive clemency. These appear to me to be the two main areas of his statement which I think you find objectionable and that was covered by your statement. Mr. ALCH. Yes, sir.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973 - Testimony of Gerald Alch
Mr. DASH. Right. Now, as to Mr. McCord's first complaint that you suggested he use CIA involvement as a defense, it is true, is it not, that the question, at least of CIA involvement, was the subject of discussion between you and Mr. McCord on two occasions in December, one at the Monocle Restaurant and another time in your office in Boston? Mr. ALCH. In this way, Mr. Dash. I specifically asked him whether or not there was any factual basis to the contention that the CIA was involved. Mr. DASH. But there was that discussion. You did raise that? Mr. ALCH. I said it just that way. Mr. DASH. Right. Did you on either occasion show Mr. McCord a statement from a D.C. police officer, Gary Bittenbender, indicating that Mr. McCord told Bittenbender that Watergate was a CIA operation? Mr. ALCH. Yes, sir. That statement had been provided to me pursuant to my discovery motions filed in the case by the Government. It was a report in which it quoted a D.C. policeman, Mr. Bittenbender, by name, as saying that at the time of Mr. McCord's arrest, I believe at the District of Columbia jail, Mr. McCord said, referring to the other four men who had been arrested with him, "These are all good men, ex-CIA men." I naturally called that to my client's attention because there loomed a distinct possibility that that statement might be introduced against him at trial. In fact, it was not.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973 - Testimony of Gerald Alch
Mr. DASH. All right. Now, Mr. Alch, in the statement that you submitted to the committee, as you read it, that was not included in that statement; is that true? Mr. ALCH. It was not, sir. Mr. DASH. There is no reference to your mentioning to Mr. McCord that you did have that statement from officer Bittenbender? Mr. ALCH. It was not, sir. I believe I mentioned it when I met with you the night before my testimony. Mr. DASH. That is true; but is there any reason why that was left out of your statement? Mr. ALCH. No, sir.