so it's clear that it liddy takes the group back in the second time. he claims he told hunt and the others that mitchell insisted on this. well doing think mitchell insisted on it at all. i think mitchell just told him the stuff he had gotten was junk. and liddy is a highly manipulative personment when he put together his book, i think he tried to do an honest accounting. >> host: i do, too. >> guest: but he does it eight years after the fact and tries to look at other people and then remember what he remembers. i'm the first to tell you that memory is not the best source. i think something like these tapes -- i remembered so many things that correct set many things. this is a contemporaneous record that we make these kind of mistakes -- >> host: one of the things you do in your life is grew around to law firms and talk to lawyers about -- >> guest: bar associations. >> host: about this kind of situation and what a lawyer should do. suppose you were a teacher in college or high school, and you taught a class on watergate, and you wanted to tell the stu

hunt brought liddy into my office once. insisted that i meet him, because they were having trouble getting approval of a counterintelligence plan for the republican national convention. i spent maybe two minutes, three minutes. picked up the phone, called mcgruder, said, these guys are complaining about making a decision. do what you have to do. and hung up the phone. that was really the extent of my involvement with liddy completely. and hunter had more involvement with him. hunter, i used him in the itt case. and he would come by my office, and when i felt like talking, because he was an engaging guy. interesting storyteller. great novelist. wrote great books. and cia operative. very secretive about it. i would listen to his tales and thought they were fascinating. >> you both went to brown. >> yep. >> did you know each other through the brown alumni? >> yep. i was the president of it in washington. and he would come to meetings. i knew he was with the cia. so i knew him slightly. not really well. and then he -- when he l

the white house hired hunt and liddy to be part of this secret illegal unconstitutional special investigationsit that nixon ran out of the white house. he had put it together, we now know, for illegal reasons. one to engineer a break-in at the brookings institution. the think tank not too far from here, to gather information about his enemies in the anti-war movement in the democratic party through illegal processes, through the grand jury investigations of the pentagon papers leak and use that information illegally to destroy his critics. so people say, you know, it's not the crime. it's the cover-up. nixon had too much criminality to cover up before the watergate break-in to really allow any sort of investigation to go forward. >> and why don't you just take a moment to tell us about the chennault affair and what that was and the role that played in the criminality that resulted in watergate. >> which is your new book. >> which is your new book. which i've already plugged. we're going to keep plugging it. >> thank you all. the chennault affair occurred during the closing days of the 1968 pre

macgruder sends liddy on this mission. when the results, the fruits come back, macgruder told me at the time contemporaneously, and he told me -- and just testify to this fact also, i left my cell phone on. anyway, and he has testified to this very clearly, that what happened is the results were such junk that mitchell calls him in after he looks at his bedroom and says, listen, this stuff is worthless but it's not worth what we paid for. and macgruder loves this. in fact, he's not fond of -- >> host: he is number two in the reelection. >> guest: and macgruder's position has always been that liddy, the self starter, had to go clean this up on it his own d didn't tell anybody he was going to break in watergate the second day. what they're going to break in, the original plan and the briefings were to break into mcgovern's headquarters. so it's clear that liddy takes his groove -- group back in a second day. he claims that he told hunt and the others that mitchell insisted on. welcome i do think mitchell insisted on at all.

hunt brought liddy into my office once. insisted that i meet him, because they were having trouble getting approval of a counterintelligence plan for the republican national convention. i spent maybe two minutes, three minutes. picked up the phone, called mcgruder, said, these guys are complaining about making a decision. do what you have to do. and hung up the phone. that was really the extent of my involvement with liddy completely. and hunter had more involvement with him. hunter, i used him in the itt case. and he would come by my office, and when i felt like talking, because he was an engaging guy. interesting storyteller. great novelist. wrote great books. and cia operative. very secretive about it. i would listen to his tales and thought they were fascinating. >> you both went to brown. >> yep. >> did you know each other through the brown alumni? >> yep. i was the president of it in washington. and he would come to meetings. i knew he was with the cia. so i knew him slightly. not really well. and then he -- when he l

hunt brought liddy into my office once. insisted that i meet him, because they were having trouble getting approval of a counterintelligence plan for the republican national convention. i spent maybe two minutes, three minutes. picked up the phone, called mcgruder, said, these guys are complaining about making a decision. do what you have to do. and hung up the phone. that was really the extent of my involvement with liddy completely. and hunter had more involvement with him. hunter, i used him in the itt case. and he would come by my office, and when i felt like talking, because he was an engaging guy. interesting storyteller. great novelist. wrote great books. and cia operative. very secretive about it. i would listen to his tales and thought they were fascinating. >> you both went to brown. >> yep. >> did you know each other through the brown alumni? >> yep. i was the president of it in washington. and he would come to meetings. i knew he was with the cia. so i knew him slightly. not really well. and then he -- when he l

, and liddy confesses that he had used two men in the watergate that he used in a break-in in daniel elseberg's psychiatrists office and they're now in the d.c. jail and says the cia provided paraphernalia. so mitchell is genuinely concerned at this point. i think my hunch was that mitchell had that not been the case, might have stepped forward and said, listen, i made a terrible mistake here and done the right thing. he is then so worried about the fact that the white house has got its -- both feet are in this as well. >> host: later mitchell called the -- >> guest: that's what drives the coverup. >> host: that's part of the 1970 houston plan, which nixon authorized, wire tapping, additional break-ins. ... p. also i think would not have gone as far as he did go with the jeopardy that mitchell had because of the watergate break-in. >> host: a couple of things here. first of all, there are conversations which were not taped and carl bernstein and i a number of years ago talked to mcgregor who is a former congressman who replaced mitchell as the campaign manager for nixon in 72. clark

the only time i heard about it was when hunt brought liddy into the office. i have attributed that to the fact that mitchell and i did not get along. >> do you think the president knew you were being set up to take the fall for watergate? >> yeah, i do. i hate to say that, because i would like to think that he had as much affection for me as i had for him. but i think he knew it. i think he had to know it. >> how do you explain that since you described how close you were. >> i don't agree with darwin, but that was survival of the fittist. if the president of the united states is thinking how he's going to save himself, anyone's expendable. that's not the way i would see it, but i think that's the way he saw it. >> could you tell us the story, and you said you tell it in your book about asking -- you're in prison and you're with a group of your former colleagues and you ask mcgruder what happened. tell us how that happened? >> dean and i were conversing in my room, testimony was going on gruder had been brought there to testify in the trials. the three of us w

the only time i heard about it was when hunt brought liddy into the office. i have attributed that to the fact that mitchell and i did not get along. >> do you think the president knew you were being set up to take the fall for watergate? >> yeah, i do. i hate to say that, because i would like to think that he had as much affection for me as i had for him. but i think he knew it. i think he had to know it. >> how do you explain that since you described how close you were. >> i don't agree with darwin, but that was survival of the fittist. if the president of the united states is thinking how he's going to save himself, anyone's expendable. that's not the way i would see it, but i think that's the way he saw it. >> could you tell us the story, and you said you tell it in your book about asking -- you're in prison and you're with a group of your former colleagues and you ask mcgruder what happened. tell us how that happened? >> dean and i were conversing in my room, testimony was going on gruder had been brought there to testify in the trials. the three of us w

the only time i heard about it was when hunt brought liddy into the office. i have attributed that to the fact that mitchell and i did not get along. >> do you think the president knew you were being set up to take the fall for watergate? >> yeah, i do. i hate to say that, because i would like to think that he had as much affection for me as i had for him. but i think he knew it. i think he had to know it. >> how do you explain that since you described how close you were. >> i don't agree with darwin, but that was survival of the fittist. if the president of the united states is thinking how he's going to save himself, anyone's expendable. that's not the way i would see it, but i think that's the way he saw it. >> could you tell us the story, and you said you tell it in your book about asking -- you're in prison and you're with a group of your former colleagues and you ask mcgruder what happened. tell us how that happened? >> dean and i were conversing in my room, testimony was going on gruder had been brought there to testify in the trials. the three of us w

it was a republican idea from liddy dole and it has done nothing good in a lot of harm and in the mindof the public at large especially low-information voters republicans are identified with the preacher in footloose coming out in favor of lowering the drinking age would seem to be a brilliant move. naturally no one has done that. >> i was wondering hypothetically speaking if you had a daughter who is ready to go to college in -- hypothetically? >> hypothetically speaking how much you'd save by going to a decent college and whether you would say that all? >> that's actually a good question. there is every reason to say regardless because if you save based on an expectation of college that seems like a protec f

person on both sides of the line was john dean because he participated participated with magruder and liddy in planning the break in and then he was approached by halderman about the cover up. he had a lot to lose in the spring of 1973 and as it began to fall apart, he told nixon, look, he way have to go to jail. nixon couldn't face it. he told halderman and ehrlichman that he was going to talk to an attorney. but i guess nixon could not bring himself to act because if he had acted, if he had gone to the famous hangout roof, there would have been so many other horrors that he would have had to reveal and he felt it best to tough it out i guess. host: we are reflecting on the resignation of richard nixon 40 years ago on this date and of course gerald ford who was the first and only appointed vice president becoming the first and only appointed president. when will your book be out? guest: either christmas 2014 or maybe around father's day. caller: thanks for taking my call. i heard some of what this gentleman has been saying and i saw the person you had on prior to him and before that i thin

it was a republican idea from liddy dole and it has done nothing good in a lot of harm and in the mind of the public at large especially low-information voters republicans are identified with the preacher in footloose coming out in favor of lowering the drinking age would seem to be a brilliant move. naturally no one has done that. >> i was wondering hypothetically speaking if you had a daughter who is ready to go to college in -- hypothetically? >> hypothetically speaking how much you'd save by going to a decent college and whether you would say that all? >> that's actually a good question. there is every reason to say regardless because if you save based on an expectation of college that seems like a protection from today and you are wrong about what happens in college. better alternatives, it's good to have money in the bank. your kid decides they don't want to go to college who want to start a business it's nice to get the kids money and let them use it to start their business instead of paying for them to binge drink or something. in terms of how much, there are a lot of people in

liddy tells him other things. the cia provided per finale and what have you so mitchell is generally concerned at this point. my hunch was that mitchell had that not have been the case might've stepped forward and said listen i made a terrible mistake here and done the right thing. he has been so worried about the fact that the white house has got both feet in this as well. >> host: that is why he calls up the white house -- that's part of the 1970 houston plan which nixon authorized wiretapping additional break-i break-ins. nixon authorized it and presented it because j. edgar hoover the fbi director protested not because it was illegal but because he felt it was the fbi's turf. we do break-ins and wiretaps. how do you dare you get somebody else to do it. >> guest: nixon and his own mind about that stuff is all right. if you read some of this he thinks, he knows it's politically troublesome but he also i think would not have gone as far as he did go with the jeopardy that mitchell had because of the watergate bre

gordon liddy talking about you know government officials being jack booted jack booted thugs and how you should hit a.t.f. agents in the head and not in the body and. then i kind of predicted that something would happen you know timothy mcveigh didn't really surprise me but i was just so fascinated that. people who i shared the country with believe things that were so different from me and i kind of became an anthropologist of america you know sort of my tribe studying this other tribe and you know basically that's what i've been doing for the past seventeen years full time and it's been incredibly rewarding. that's a brilliant. i love that that we have described as a kind of the cultural anthropologist of our own era one of one of one of the features of the riot is they're not particularly interested in being at the politics of loss because these are kind of enlightenment values the idea that we're going to figure out someone the all there and try and get inside their head empathetically. which kind of leads in all of the direction of the glenn beck ism of you know reinventing the h

he got hammered and if you listen to bob benmosche, treatmentd liddy's angered him and he decided to take the job and is one of the had such antagonism personally toured washington even though taxpayers on the government were effectively controlling aig. >> what about his reputation on wall street? >> well, what can i say? bob benmosche is remembered by many people as the guy who saved aig. the trip the matter is that he did not save aig. the taxpayers saved aig. what he should be remembered for an this is what i do think people on wall street remember him for his being an amazing cardplayer. he wasbout the hand dealt as the ceo of aig and coming in when he did. --was no ace,, and no trump it was as bad a hand of cards as you could have under the circumstances. he sold assets, tens of billions of dollars of assets, aia for example, aleco, metlife in a buyers market. a situationket is in which you don't want to be a seller and yet he magnificently managed to wring the most value possible out of these assets. he not only stabilize the shipments of up to the government that left aig arg

dean says in connection with hunt and liddy both. the president inquired, they worked for him? dean, they -- these fellas have to be some idiots and we've learned after the fact. they went out and went into dr. ellsberg's doctor's office and they had, they were geared up with all this cia equipment, cameras and the like. well they turned the stuff back into the cia, at some point in time and left the film in the camera. good sleuths, i might interject. the cia has not put this together. and they don't know what it all means right now. the president says, what in the world -- what in the name of blank was ehrlichman having something and this is uninat the liable in the ellsberg. this is the first time he heard of it months after it had taken place. dean says they were trying to -- this was a part of an operation that in connection with the pentagon papers. they were, the whole thing, they wanted to get ellsberg psychiatric records for some reason. i don't know. president, well this is the first i ever heard of this. i -- unintelligible is not our problem and dean says that's rig

the white house hired liddy to be part of this secret illegal unconstitutional special investigationsthat nixon ran out of the white house. he had put it together, we now know, for illegal reasons. one to engineer a break-in at the brookings institution. the think tank not too far from here, to gather information about his enemies in the anti-war movement in the democratic party through illegal processes, through the grand jury investigations of the pentagon papers leak and use that information illegally to destroy his critics. so people say, you know, it's not the crime. it's the cover-up. nixon had too much criminality to really allow any sort of investigation to go forward. >> and why don't you just take a moment to tell us about the chenault affair and what that was and the role that played in the criminality that resulted in watergate. >> which is your new book. >> which is for sale outside. >> thank you all. the chenault affair occurred during the closing days of the 1968 presidential campaign. a close race between nixon and vice president hubert humphrey. less than a week befor

the white house hired liddy to be part of this secret illegal unconstitutional special investigations unit that nixon ran out of the white house. he had put it together, we now know, for illegal reasons. one to engineer a break-in at the brookings institution. the think tank not too far from here, to gather information about his enemies in the anti-war movement in the democratic party through illegal processes, through the grand jury investigations of the pentagon papers leak and use that information illegally to destroy his critics. so people say, you know, it's not the crime. it's the cover-up. nixon had too much criminality to really allow any sort of investigation to go forward. >> and why don't you just take a moment to tell us about the chenault affair and what that was and the role that played in the criminality that resulted in watergate. >> which is your new book. >> which is for sale outside. >> thank you all. the chenault affair occurred during the closing days of the 1968 presidential campaign. a close race between nixon and vice president hubert humphrey. less than a week