HELMS CITES 'HIGHER-UP' PRESSURE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210006-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 20, 2014
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: May 20, 1973
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210006-1
DREARY ? Showers or thun-
dershowers today, high in
upper 605. Mostly cloudy
with chance of showers to-
night, low in 50s. Partly
cloudy tomorrow, high in 705.
Yesterdays high, 76 at 3:10
p.m. Yesterdays low, 45 at
1:30 a.rn. Details: Page E-6.
121st Year. No. 140
Copyneht ? 1973
Tte Est-nine Star Newspaper Co.
and ?,
p--1 la ?
WASHINGTON
DA1
**** WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 20, 1973
CIA HEA
Ed
INSIDE METRO ? Some miss-
ing love letters are causing
more of a stir in Surry Coun-
ty, Va., than safety violations
at the new atomic power
plant there. Page B-1.
? Phone-, 484-5000 CIRCULATION 484-3000 . A
CLASSIFIED 484-6000 40 CENTS
PRODDED BY HALDEMAN
eres
Cl
ER13-2.RT KALNI BACII
$200,000 Kalmbach Fund Bared
By ROBERT WALTERS
Star-News Staff %Vriter
Herbert W. Kalmbach, President
Nixon's personal attorney, has
acknowledged that he collected
more than $200,000 last summer
"for distribution through interme-
didries to the Watergate defend-
ants or their attorneys," the Gener-
al Accounting Office said yester-
day.
Kalmbach, a Newport Beach,
Calif., lawyer who has been a per-
sonal friend and political ally of
Nixon for more than a decade, also
"had custody of approximately $1.9
million in funds" subsequent to
Nixon's 1968 presidential cam- ?
paign, a new GAO report said.
In addition to disclosing the exist-
ence of those two previously unre-
ported funds, the 'GAO report is-
sued yesterday also:
0 Identified seven men, two of
them White House officials, who
were given more than $900,000 by
the Nixon campaign committee in
1971 and 1972. That money came
from a $1.7 million fund composed
?of unreported cash donations to the
political organization.
0 Charged that the largest of those
cash payments, $350,000 given to an
aide of H.R. Haldeman, then White
House chief of staff, was "an ob-
vious attempt to evade the disclo-
sure requirements" of a new feder-
al statute governing political fi-
nance which went into effect April
7,-1972.
' See GAO, Page A-6
Grand Jury Told of Request
By BARRY ICALB
Star?News Staff Writer
Former CIA director Richard
M. Helms has reportedly told the
Watergate grand jury that when
H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlich-
man and John W. Dean III tried to
enlist CIA aid in the Watergate
cover-up on June 23, Haldeman
told Helms the request was com-
ing from "higher up."
At that time, there was only one
person at the White House higher
than Haldeman, and that was
President Nixon.
Helms, now ambassador to Iran,
'made the statement to the grand
jury Friday, according to infor-
mal sources.
There was no indication that
Haldeman, then White House chief
of staff, actually used Nixon's
name in his unsuccessful effort to
involve the CIA in the bugging and
cover-up.
NOR COULD The Star-News'
sources say that Helms had been
able to ascertain that the requests
for CIA help were in fact coming
from the President.
But members of Congress who
have been reporting on congres-
sional testimony by Helms and Lt.
Gen. Vernon A. Walters, CIA dep-
uty director, have stressed that
when requests were made by
aides with the authority of Halde-
man, the authority of the Presi-
dent himself was taken for grant-
ed.
See HELMS, Page A-2
Declassified and Approved For Release @ 50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210006-1
RIGIARD M. HELN
01?
Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210006-1
s
Continued From Page A-1
? . Sen. Stuart Symington,
? I D-Mo., who as acting cha
rman of the Senate Armed
Services Committee has
been quest oning current
'1 and formerCIA officials-
, about CIA links with Wa-
? tergate, announced yester-
day that he had turned
over to the grand jury and
\ Senate Watergate Commit-
tee. 11 in-house CIA memo-
?'. randa. They deal with con-
versations between top
" CIA officials and the three
.' White House aides ?
Haldenian, former domes-
tic counsel head Ehrlich-
? ? man and former White
I House counsel Dean
between June 23, 1972, and
.1 February of this year. ,
? Withouth providing de-
.? tails, informed committee
sources have told The Star-
News they belive the mem-
oranda contribute "added
fact" to the suspicion that
Nixon knew of the cover-up
, attempts.
. ' SYMINGTON said on
Thursday, after hearing
? closed-door testimony
.1 from .Helms, that "it is
hard for me to visualize
.1 how Nixon could have
' been unaware of what was
? going on."
..jIn a statement released
Friday, in which he re-
vealed the existence of,
the memoranda, Syming-
ton went even further:
- "I. believe these memo-
randa are highly signifi-
-; cant, and my first impres-
sion of them is that they
appear to verify one of My
-1 statements yesterday at a
press conference, namely.
? that it is very clear there
?
was a high-level attempt
by the White House to un-
? load major responsibility
for the Watergate bugging
on the CIA.
".'Also," Symington con-
tinued, "it is even more
difficult for me to visualize
that the President knew
nothing about it," ?
? One source close to the
CIA-Watergate probe de-
scribed the memos as
presenting an important
"added fact" about one of
the conversations. This is
believed to be the June 23
meeting?six days after
the Watergate arrests?at
which?Walters was or-
dered by Haldeman, with
Helms present, to inter-
fere with the FBI's Water-
gate investigation'.
Helms' grand jury testi-
mony Friday, like that of
convicted Watergate con-
spirator James W. Mc-
Cord's before the Senate
-Watergate Committee,
was second-hand
"hearsay" at best, and
both bits of testimony fail
to provide conclusive
proof that the President
knew of the cover-up.
McCord testified on Fri-
day that in January John
J. Caulfield, a former
White House aide then
working at the Treasury
Department, had tried to
buy McCord's silence at
the Watergate trial and
that Caulfield had said
Nixon was aware of the
attempt.
This prompted White
House Press Secretary
Ronald L. Ziegler to 9nce
again issue a statement
denying that the President
in any way knew about or
condoned the cover-up.
While the grand jury
continues to gather evi-
dence against these three
men and a number of oth-
ers, a determined effert is
being made by the prose-.
cutors, the Senate commit-
tee and the press to deter-
mine whether there is any
evidence to implicate Nix-
on. '
According to Justice
Department sources, the
three prosecutors share
the feeling that the Presi-
dent must have been
aware of the cover-up.
However, these sources
say, the prosecutors so far
have uncovered nothing
more concrete than, the
type of testimony Helms
gave.
AT THE moment, those
seeking the answer to the
Watergate puzzle find
themselves in roughly the
same position regarding
possible Nixon involve-
ment as they did before
April regarding such high
Nixon aides as former
Atty. Gen. John N. Mitch-
ell.
During the earlier peri-
od, evidence, testimony,
unconfirmed reports by
"sources" and the like
consistently led right to
the door of Mitchell's of-
fice. But there was never
enough to carry the suspi-
cion across the threshhold.
Now Mitchell himself
has admitted sitting in on
three meetings in early
1972 at which the bugging
was discussed, and knowl-
edgable federal sources
say he will almost certain-
ly be indicted in the case.
Haldeman and Ehrlich-
man, once considered un-
reachable by the investi-
gation, have admitted
through their attorneys I
that they too might be in- ,
dicted.
IN HIS Senate testimony
on Friday, McCord stated
that Caulfield had told him
the President was person-
ally aware of the attempts
to pressure McCord into
remaining silent.
Caulfield, according to
reliable sources, has told
the grand jury that he did
transmit offers of money
and executive clemency in
an attempt to buy Mc-
Cord's silence, but has
said he never mentioned
Nixon's name or that of
anybody else to McCord.
The apparent conflict
between the two men's
versions of the story will
be dealt with on Tuesday,
when Caulfield begins his
Senate testimony as soon
as McCord finishes his.
- ----
- ?
Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210006-1