FOR THF RECORD
In the first week after release of the White House transcripts roundups of opinion in the House seemed to be that President Nixon had been damaged but that the transcripts did not prove he could be impeached. One opinion from Republican Rep. Marvin Esch (Mich.) was typical. “You can’t impeach for appalling style. There must be hard facts.” . . . White House counselor Dean Burch, in press interview May 7, characterized the presidential conversations as “not heroic,” and when asked if the President had been “sullied” or “besmirched” by their publication answered, “I don’t think the President is impeachable, let me say that.” . . . House Minority Leader John Rhodes, who succeeded Gerald Ford in that post, says as of May 7, he still believes there aren’t enough votes in the House to impeach Nixon. (Burch says Nixon will not resign even if the House votes impeachment.) . . . Alexander Butterfield, who first revealed before the Ervin Committee last year that Oval Office conversations were being taped, says H. R. Haldeman knew of the taping system but that “it is my guess that John Ehrlichman did not.” . . . Senate Majority Whip Robert Byrd (D., W. Va.) is making sure that the White House transcripts get into the Congressional Record. He inserts every morning the portions of the transcripts he read the night before. . . . Minority Whip Robert Griffin (Mich.) has countered by inserting into the Record the White House-provided summary that puts the transcripts into a somewhat more favorable light. . . . The ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Edward Hutchinson (Mich.), has turned down suggestion by committee member Lawrence Hogan (R., Md.) that minority counsel Albert Jenner be replaced because Hogan considers Jenner insufficiently Republican —a blow to the White House. But Hutchinson is opposed to granting immunity to witnesses testifying before the Judiciary Committee—which is a White House plus. If Hutchinson’s ruling is upheld it could mean a dozen key witnesses lost to the prosecutors. . . *. And it will all be in living color. ABC, CBS, and NBC will take turns broadcasting the hearings live and PBS will rebroadcast the tapes at night.
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