6 Indicted for Break-In Ehrlichman, Known As a Stickler for Efficiency Cotson and Punctuality, John D
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!XPost 14 Friduy, Murch, 8,1974 THE WASHINGTON POST AAR 8 17,4 6 Indicted for Break-In Ehrlichman, Known as a stickler for efficiency Cotson and punctuality, John D. Ehrlich- As special counsel to the Presi- man, 48, was a veteran "advance dent, Charles W. Colson helped man" in President Nixon's election weld together the coalition of labor- campaigns and rose rapidly in the ethnic,Catholic and Southern Dem- White House staff structure to be- oeiatic followers of Wallace formed come the President's chief adviser thd "silent majority." He worked for domestic affairs. One of his_ behind the scenes and gained a re- tasks was overseeing the activities pl.to.tion for being tough, prag- of the White House investigative unit known as "the pluntbers." matic, hard-nosed and extremely CHARGES loyal to the President. Colson, 42, One count of conspiracy against resigned in March, 1973, to return the rights of citizens, one count of to private law practice. He has making false statements to the FBI, since said that he underwent a three counts of making false decla- religious experience and that he rations to a grand jury or court. has found inner peace through Christ. BACKGROUND Ehrlichman, who was indicted by a CHARGES federal grand jury last week on simi- One count of conspiring against lar charges in connection with the the rights of citizens. Watergate cover-up, has pleaded inno- cent to charges of conspiracy and per- BACKGROUND jury brought by a Los Angeles County On July 1, 1971, five days before grand jury last fall that investigated Watergate conspirator. E. Howard Hunt the break-in of Daniel Ellsberg's psy- was hired as a White House consult- chiatrist's office. ant, Colson and Hunt had a telephone Ehrlichman has denied knowing of conversation about Daniel Ellsberg. the planned break-in before it took The conversation, something of a job place on Sept. 3, 1971, but he has main- interview for Hunt who had been Col- tained that it was legal under the son's friend and who was hired on Col- "inherent powers" of the President to son's recommendation, is not men- protect national security. tioned in the indictment returned yes- He also told the Los Angeles County terday. But, through a recording of the grand jury that the President call made by Colson, it has been cited "specifically approved" a trip by E. as one indicator of the White House's Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy to concern over Ellsberg. Los Angeles to develop information According to the transcript, obtained about Ellsberg and the Pentagon Pa- by the Senate Watergate committee, pers leak, according to a transcript of Colson and Hunt saw opportunities to his testimony released last October.- "nail" Ellsberg and the New Left, as Yet, in approving a "covert opera- Colson put it: "We might be able to tion" to find out about Ellsberg's medi- put this bastard into a helluva situa- cal history, Ehrlichman specifically or- tion and discredit the New Left," said dered that any such activities not be Colson. "traceable" back to the White House. "It also has to be this case won't be According to the indictment issued tried in the court, it will be tried in here yesterday. Ehrlichman "caused the newspapers," Colson emphasized the removal of certain memoranda" later in the conversation. concerning the break-in from the Colson has denied being involved in White House on March 27, 1973. One of any illegal activities uncovered in the these, dated Aug. 11, 1971, carried the course of the various Watergate inves- recommendation from presidential tigations. Last week, he was indicted aides Egil (Bud) Krogh Jr. and David on one count of conspiracy and one Young for the "covert operation count of obstruction of justice in con- . to examine all the medical files nection with the Watergate cover-up. still held by Ellsberg's psychoanalyst According to yesterday's indictment, covering the two-year period in which Colson took an active interest in the he was undergoing analysis." activities of "the plumbers" and bor- Ehrlichman testified before the Sen- rowed $5,000 from the Trust for Agri- ate Watergate committee that he did cultural Political Education, a fund set not know a break-in was being contem- up with milk producers money, to fi- plated. He said he thought a friendly nance the Ellsberg break-in. doctor or nurse would be asked to get Colson told the FBI he learned of the files. the break-in "sometime after" it occur- According to yesterday's indictment, red. Hunt subsequently told a grand lw told the federal grand jury here jury that he tried to show Colson pho- that he also did not know that "the tographs obtained during the opera- plumbers" were seeking psychiatric in- tion but was told by Colson, "I don't formation about Ellsberg until after want to hear anything 'about them." weak-in occurred. These state- to the grand jury would appear to y:ntradict parts of his testimony to Liddy the Watergate committee. Under close questioning from assist- A former FBI agent, prosecutor ant U.S. attorney Earl Silbert, Ehrlich- man three times told the grand jury unsuccessful congressional candi- that he learned of attempts to get psy- date and Treasury Department chiatric information on Ellsberg "after aide, George Gordon Liddy, 43, the fact,"—the break-in. Those statements, according to the was on the staff of White House indictment were false. domesitc adviser, John D. Flihrlich- BACKGROUND man at the time of the break-in at Martinez, sentenced to, a! year in the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist. prison for his role in the Watergate DeDiego He later joined the Nixon re-elec- break-in and recently paroled, also took part in the break-in at the offices A close associate of several of tion campaign as a'general counsel, of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, Dr. the seven original Watergate de- a job he held until 11 days after Lewis Fielding, in Los Angeles accord- fendants, Felipe De Diego, 45, was the initial arrests at the Watergate, ing to Bernard Barker. a real estate partner of Bernard L. when he was fired for refusing to A real estate agent and notary pub- lic who worked for Barker, Martinez Barker and Eugenio Martinez until talk to FBI agents. was said to carry out low-level func- shortly after the two were arrested tions for the CIA in the Miami area. inside the Democratic National CHARGES An address book found on Martinez at One count of contempt of Congress; the time of his arrest in the Watergate Committee offices in the Watergate one count of conspiracy against the contained the name of E. Howard complex. rights of citizens. Hunt, White House consultant and CHARGE Watergate conspirator. BACKGROUND Conspiracy. Liddy was emerged as one of the BACKGROUND most colorful and enigmatic figures in Barker the Watergate scandal. De Diego's association with. Barker, He has maintained steadfast silence, Bernard L. Baker, 56, a Cuban- Martinez, E. Howard Hunt and other and his refusal to testify about Water- House consultant and former CIA Watergate figures dates back to 1959, when he joined the then small Cuban gate-related matters has already cost comrade E. Howard Hunt to under- exile colony in Miami in the wake of him a contempt of court citation in addition to yesterday's contempt of take government, undercover work, Fidel Castro's rise to power. In Cuba, Congress charge. born American recruited by White De Diego had been a banker. In Miami, he was recruited by Barker to He is currently serving a 6- to 20- was found crouching behind a desk year sentence on a conspiracy convic- participate in the abortive Bay of tion arising from the Watergate break- at the Democratic Party's Water- Pigs invasion of Cuba. in and is awaiting trial on burglary gate headquarters on June 17, 1972. De Diego was captured shortly after the April, 1961, landing on an isolated CHARGE beachhead in southern Cuba, was held charges in connection with the Ells-, One count of conspiracy against the prisoner 20 months and was released berg Los Angeles break-in. He was also rights of citizens. by Castro in December, 1962, along fined $40,000 for his part in the Water- BACKGROUND with other Bay of Pigs prisoners. gate break-in. With the Six other original Water- Almost immediately, he johed the It was Liddy, sworn grand jury testi- U.S. Army, where he served 3 four- mony has indicated, who along with E. year stint as an intelligence offiter. He Howard Hunt Jr. helped prepare a gate committee, Barker said: "I am a was discharged in 1967 with th€ rank plan to gather information on Ellsberg bilingual American who is dedicated to of lieutenant, and worked for the,next shortly after the publication of the Pen- the liberation of Cuba." He said he two years as .a car dealer in P'ierto tagon Papers leaked by Ellsberg in was recruited by Hunt, his former boss Rico, returning to Miami in 1969 tb be- 1971. That plan, according to testi- in the abortive Bay of Pig invasion of come a U.S. citizen and obtain a'real mony, included provisions for the Cuba, and agreed to burglarize the of- estate license. He joined a Miami seal "nontraceable" break-in at Ellsberg's fice of Daniel Ellsberg's' psychiatrist, psychiatrist office. .Dr. Lewis F. Fielding, and Democratic Testimony before the Watergate headquarters because he believed it Senate Watergate committee has also was in the interests of national seen: estate agency where Martinez, wi th pictured Liddy as the initiator of a rity.