This Day In 1970's History: Saturday January 12, 1974
- The Watergate special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, citing legal restrictions, has indicated that he will not make the mass of material collected by his office available to the congressional inquiry into the impeachment of President Nixon. In an interview with The New York Times, he said that he was eager to cooperate with the inquiry, but he could "see no way at the present time" to allow the congressional committee or its staff access to material that his office had obtained from the White House. [New York Times]
- A proposal that Congress grant President Nixon immunity from criminal prosecution if he decides to resign is under discussion in Washington political and social circles. The idea is that such congressional action would remove from the President's mind any obstacle to leaving the White House based on concern over possible subsequent prosecution as a private citizen. The apparent author of the proposal is Abe Fortes, the Washington lawyer who served on the Supreme Court by appointment of President Johnson from 1965 to 1969, when he resigned during a controversy over his acceptance of a $20,000 fee from a foundation while a sitting Justice. [New York Times]
- Representative Hugh Carey, Democrat of Brooklyn, charged that President Nixon had illegally used Bryce Harlow, then and now a member of the White House staff, to influence legislation for the President's benefit. Mr. Carey made the charge in an interview taped in advance for broadcast tomorrow night on WOR-TV. Mr. Carey's accusation relates to the controversy over the $576,000 tax deduction that Mr. Nixon is claiming for giving his vice-presidential papers to the National Archives. [New York Times]
- The White House told the Senate Watergate Committee last summer that a government official who participated in the investigation of the unauthorized passing of National Security Council documents to the Pentagon, had, in effect, sought to "blackmail" his way to a more important job by threatening to make the secret materials public, well-placed sources said. These sources said that the threat came during a White House investigation into what was believed to be a military spy ring. [New York Times]
- Secretary of State Kissinger flew from Egypt to Jerusalem and quickly set in motion talks between American and Israeli officials aimed at producing a concrete proposal to end the stalemate over the separation of Israeli and Egyptian troops along the Suez Canal. The officials were trying to work out a formula that Mr. Kissinger could present to President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and the announcement that they had begun their efforts shortly after Mr. Kissinger's arrival indicated that the Secretary of State had persuaded the Israelis to quicken their efforts to agree on a concrete disengagement position. [New York Times]
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