Chapter 8 Congress nets the president

Brother Lu: Hello! In my last letter, I mentioned that the "Watergate Incident" finally exploded a gap during the judicial trial process.However, although the clever judge Silica didn't know how big a fish he was going to pull, at least he knew that the bigger the fish, the harder it is to catch.Therefore, he did not think that everything was all right just because he had McCord's letter in his hand.Not only did he know that he still had a lot of hurdles to cross, but he also thought that if there was a real big fish behind this clue, then the strength of the judicial branch alone would definitely not be enough.The problem clearly lies with the executive branch of government power.Therefore, the first thing he considers is to promote the direction of administrative supervision by the legislative branch, and he will go up and push hard.

Judge Silica's concerns are by no means superfluous.When the explosive news from the courtroom reached the White House, Nixon, despite being shocked, reassured his subordinates that McCord didn't know much and that confession would not cause great harm.On the other hand, by analogy, there is no difference between all things, "the sky and the earth are humble, and the mountains and the mountains are flat."With his teachings in mind, he began to convene to discuss new countermeasures.One of the most important strategies is that in this case, simply use the "shield" of the judiciary to block the "spear" of the Congress, and cut off the attack of the legislative branch first.Limit the problem to the initial stage of the judicial process, and then cut off the clues at this threshold.

What kind of strategy is this?It is to preemptively request to enter the judicial process before the Senate hearing.But why did Nixon do this? Isn't this tantamount to committing himself to the French Open?There is also a lot to pay attention to here. Congressional hearings are one of the mechanisms designed by the Constitution to check and balance power.That is, the legislative branch of power supervises and reviews the executive branch.If it is a civilian, you cannot file criminal charges against him without certain evidence.It is even more difficult to convict a civilian without absolutely sufficient evidence.You must have already experienced this in the Simpson case I introduced last year.However, the actions of the government executive and its officials are subject to far more stringent supervision and restrictions.

When there are many doubts about the behavior of government executive agencies and officials, even if there is not enough evidence to bring a legal complaint, Congress can already call a hearing based on these doubts.Although congressional hearings are not courts, their seriousness and drive to get to the bottom of the matter are by no means inferior to courts.The "New Era" of "one move with greater deterrence". It is essentially the British Hobson (J.A. Hearings often function as a “quasi-court.” Therefore, compared with ordinary people, government officials receive more supervision and less protection.

However, regardless of the conclusions reached by the Congressional hearing, the hearing will not sentence you.If at the hearing, the witness evidence of the criminal offense is indeed recovered, then once the hearing is over, the next step is to transfer it to the judicial system and enter the judicial process.After entering the judicial process, it is to follow a set of judicial rules. The defendants in the court all enjoy the rights stipulated in the Constitution. They cannot be convicted without sufficient evidence, but once convicted, they will have to go to jail. So, why did Nixon and the others skip the congressional hearings and are willing to enter the judicial process instead?Let's first envision what will happen if Congressional hearings are held.

For the Nixons, holding public congressional hearings to the whole country when the witnesses had already announced their confession would undoubtedly be an immediate disaster.Think about it, if the witnesses are allowed to speak out in full view of the people of the whole country to arouse the people to save the country and criticize the autocratic monarchy with the theory of "natural human rights", all the facts will be spread out at once, and the backstage of the White House will be pushed to the front.It is conceivable that the anger of the people across the country will immediately flood Nixon's White House like a tide, and they will not even be given time to buffer the embankment for rescue.This is certainly not the consequence that the Nixons wanted to see.

However, now that we are at the last critical moment, if we want to stop such a thing from happening, there is no other way to stop it except to fight poison with fire and ask to directly enter the judicial process.Because generally speaking, if a government official's problem is serious enough to enter the judicial process, then the "quasi-court" stage of congressional hearings is of course unnecessary.While Congress can insist on hearings as usual, there is a good chance that, generally speaking, Congress will accept the recommendation, cancel scheduled hearings, and turn them directly to the judicial system.Of course, the Nixons didn't want to deal with the judiciary either, but they could only retreat in this way, whichever is the lesser of two evils.

You must ask again, why do they think that the harm caused by the judicial direction may be lighter?And if they succeed in blocking congressional hearings, what are they going to do with the judiciary branch?How could they have cut the cord at an early stage of the judicial process? Because, if you enter the judicial process, the first thing is to call a grand jury to hold a hearing, and the key point is that because this is the hearing before the prosecution, Lotsky and Bukharin’s wrong views and reasons on the issue of political and economic relations, so Such hearings are held in secret.

At the same time, in order to find out the truth of the case as soon as possible and to dispel the concerns of witnesses, the US judiciary has always conducted limited transactions with witnesses.The most prominent effect of this kind of transaction is in the case of convicting the first criminal of the drug cartel.For example, on the condition of not investigating the past and not prosecuting, the insiders in the drug cartel are exchanged to testify, and even help them change their appearance after testifying and start a new life in a place where no one knows.Otherwise, many well-organized drug cartels would not be able to persuade the jury to convict the criminal even if the police worked hard to solve the case.

That is to say, witnesses exchange "truth of the case" for "non-prosecution" against witnesses, which is a common situation in the stage of grand jury hearings before prosecution.Of course, such deals are limited.However, in the entire judicial process, this is indeed a very rare part where there is room for maneuver. So, you guessed it, the Nixons were at this stage. Since this kind of transaction is limited, they can throw out a limited number of "dead tigers" at this stage.For example, the former Republican president re-elected the committee's chairmen and vice-chairmen, Mitchell and McGruder.They were originally the direct commanders of the "Watergate Incident", and when eavesdropping expert McCord confessed, they were doomed.However, people in the White House can make deals with the judicial department in advance."Come out and testify" in exchange for "not to prosecute".

Is there hope for such a deal?They at least thought they were certain.First of all, at this primary stage of the judicial process, strictly speaking, it is the juncture of the two branches of government power, that is, the handover point of the judicial department of the executive branch of the government and the courts of the judicial branch of the government.Because, only after the grand jury approves the indictment, is the case really handed over to Judge Silica.Prior to this, the prosecutors under the Justice Department led by Nixon still had a considerable say in this "witness deal". Secondly, after all, there is no precedent for a criminal case that involves the White House and may require the president to testify.No one knows what such a trading range should be.Since there is no precedent, there is more room to fight for. If this trick of the Nixons can come true, it will cut off the three branches of government power and the interactive role of the news media in the relationship of checks and balances.For the first time in the nearly two hundred years since America's founders designed the "cash register," its mechanism has faced such a major challenge. At the critical moment of the final sprint, Judge Silica seemed to be worried about the White House's move, so he swiftly took a step ahead.In order to promote Congress, he made them firm in their determination to hold hearings.Two days before sentencing, and two days before McCord's letter was published, he invited a law professor named Daisey, an adviser to the Senate Watergate Inquiry Committee, to sit in on him urging the defendants to communicate with Senate cooperation talk.And this led to a separate conversation between McCalder, who was determined to confess, and Professor Daisy. This push by Judge Sirica was very strong.Because what McCalder revealed to Professor Daisy, Professor Daisy was completely surprised.This is tantamount to hammering down another iron nail in the Senate's investigation decision. After pushing the Senate side, Judge Silica decided to increase the pressure on the witness side.He used his trump card again.At that sentencing meeting, he only announced "interim judgments" for several other defendants except for the postponement of the sentence for McCauld who asked to confess, and the "interim judgments" all have long sentences.He then announced that the "official sentencing" would be three months away, at which time he would reassess the defendants' official sentences based on how well they cooperated with the Senate and the grand jury. Judge Silica said clearly to the defendants, "I suggest that you fully cooperate with the grand jury and the Senate Investigation Committee. You should understand that I have not promised anything or held any hope, but if you decide Come clean and I will reassess the sentence and other factors will be taken into account. So I'm going to put it here because it's up to you to decide." In this crucial contest, Nixon's side appeared to be very passive.While they were preparing their plans, congressional investigative committees had decided to call on public opinion.Professor Dai Xi held a brief press conference.He announced only that McCaulder had provided him with other people involved, and declined to give any further details, including their names. The press was immediately chain-propelled.Reporters searched for information on every occasion.Among them, two reporters from the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times are also actively pursuing them. The two reporters of the "Washington Post" not only revealed a lot of inside information during the entire "Watergate Incident", but also made many reports.Since then, they have almost become experts on the "Watergate Incident". Based on what they know, they have written several books about the "Watergate Incident".Until recently, I wrote a new book with an interesting title called "People who are all presidents". The "Los Angeles Times" reporter finally found out the names of the former Republican President's Re-election Committee Vice Chairman McGruder and President's Counsel Dean.Before his name was published, the reporter pressed the White House press secretary about Dean's involvement at the president's press conference, but the press secretary threatened to make a false accusation.Journalists simply did not take such threats seriously.Dean's story, of course, started reporting. On the contrary, Dean himself lost his composure.Although he was President Nixon's legal adviser, he found himself a lawyer outside. It seems increasingly difficult for the Nixons to skip the congressional hearings. However, for the Nixons, the more they were in this situation, the more they could not raise their hands and surrender. For them, this was already a life-and-death struggle.They managed to fend off with a vague "executive privilege".What is this?This is part of the separation of powers.That is, under normal circumstances, the three branches of government power are independent and have no right to interfere with each other. For example, the executive branch has "executive privileges". Under normal circumstances, the Congress as the legislative branch has no right to intervene in their normal administration. Work. However, it is obviously difficult to stop with this article alone.Because the evidence currently held by Congress can at least show that the White House's operations are "not under normal circumstances," and the Congressional investigation is tenable.So, in the end they gave up this shield.The only remaining shield is "administrative procedures".This article is still the old trick, which is to emphasize entering the judicial process, making the Senate investigation "unnecessary."However, in the current situation, they were not sure whether such a resistance would be successful. The situation is developing very fast.By the end of March, Nixon had been forced to drop his resistance to the hearings, announcing that White House personnel could attend the hearings "unofficially" and "at the direction of the President" to appear before the grand jury.When President Nixon made this "concession" announcement, if he had seen what his legal adviser Dean was doing at home at the time, this "concession" would not be considered a blow. What was Dean doing at home that day?He's making an appointment with his lawyer. Among Nixon's White House advisers, only one had more shields than the others.He is Dean who is most involved in the "cover-up" operation, why can he have an extra layer of protection?Because his consultant title is different from others, he is "legal consultant".Just because the word "law" was added before "consultant", he could invoke the article that "the relationship between lawyers and clients is protected by law" and claim that he did not have to testify to the investigation committee.However, perhaps precisely because he is a legal adviser, he knows best what consequences he will face once there are signs of "falling like a mountain".Even if he can resist the issue of attending the hearing for a while longer than others, but he is very clear that this can only delay swallowing the consequences, but cannot really escape from the outcome. Therefore, Dean, the person President Nixon trusted the most during the "cover-up" operation, and the person who advised Nixon the most during the "cover-up" stage, has already begun to consider his own plan of "losing the car to save the death".After thinking about it, his feet were already deeply sunk in this swamp, and he had no other way of escape except to lay Nixon down as a solid plank and step on it. So Dean, who was Nixon's legal adviser, began to make appointments with the lawyer he had hired for himself. Dean's lawyer asked him to state the facts first.The duty of a lawyer is to provide clients with the best legal services and to protect their clients in the best possible way within the scope of the law.In this sense, it should be said that Dean's lawyer did his duty.Because, halfway through listening, he understood how much trouble his client was in.Therefore, if he insisted on calling the prosecutor on the spot, he asked his client Dean to discuss the "witness deal" with the prosecutor as soon as possible.The lawyer knew that Dean had to trade the "truth" for clemency early on, or he was finished.As mentioned earlier, this is a rare link in the entire judicial process that allows bargaining. However, when Dean contacted the prosecutor under the arrangement of the lawyer, he did not first discuss the terms of the deal as you and I imagined.This is because as mentioned earlier, there are transactions, but transactions are limited.Therefore, in the judiciary in the United States, usually in this case, the plea deal will be left for last.The reason for this is very simple. Only after the witness tells everything can the prosecutor know how big a crime the witness has committed in the case, and be able to judge how big a deal can be given. So, will the witness worry that the prosecutor will play tricks after telling the story?On the one hand, the prosecution will guarantee not to use the materials heard in the case for the time being, and not to record them. These conditions have been considered by the lawyers on behalf of the witnesses, and they will not damage the interests of the witnesses.On the other hand, after the witnesses have finished speaking, the prosecutor's credibility of keeping his promise is guaranteed by the normal operation of the entire judicial system.In other words, if the prosecutor does not operate according to the usual practice, no one will confess to you in the future.In a mature judicial system, all aspects of the game will appear to strictly follow the rules, and witnesses will have far fewer scruples in this regard. However, in this case, Dean, as a witness, has greater concerns than ordinary witnesses, that is, whether the prosecutor will report to his superiors as usual.You know, the prosecutor's boss is the Department of Justice, and the boss of the Justice Department is President Nixon.Thinking about it this way, Dean, who was Nixon's legal adviser, couldn't help feeling nervous.Therefore, before Dean spoke, the prosecutor made an additional promise not to report to his superiors. Step by step, Dean finally brought out everything except Nixon himself.This was something the prosecutor had never dreamed of before meeting Dean.Before that, although they expected that Dean's confession would make great progress in the case, but now they realized that they were far from sure about the direction of their main attack. Before that, they basically only had "Watergate" in their eyes.The direction of their attack is only aimed at the parties, planners and backstage of this incident.Who knows, after a long time of commotion, the "Watergate Incident" was just the prologue of a big drama, and the large-scale crimes of obstruction of justice that resulted from it were staged viciously at the core of the government's administrative department.This is what they should work hard to aim for.The problem is that these crimes, this kind of defiance of justice by the executive branch, are still going on today.This time, the well-informed federal prosecutor was really dumbfounded. A few days later, the shoulders of these two prosecutors could no longer bear the weight of this "secret". Minister Pedersen.Who knows, he was also dumbfounded after hearing this. Mitchell, one of the main culprits that Dean confessed, I introduced, he resigned from the position of attorney general to serve as the chairman of the Republican re-election committee.So he was also Pedersen's old boss.In short, seeing that his famous old superiors and old colleagues will soon stand in the dock and become the defendants charged with several felonies, the Deputy Minister of Justice immediately thought of Nixon.He finally blurted out, "The president will be impeached!" He was, after all, a seasoned legal practitioner.Although Dean has not let go of Nixon's name so far, Pederson knows that since many senior officials in the White House are deeply involved in crimes, no matter whether the president is negligent or involved in the case, it is inevitable that the motion of impeachment will be raised. The next step can be guessed.Pedersen was only a deputy minister, and he immediately went to the current Attorney General Kredist.His reaction was different from those of the previous ones, and his first thought was probably "fallen".You must still remember that when the "Watergate Case" came out, Li Di went to the golf course to look for him.So, in theory, he should also consider finding a lawyer.Therefore, he had to resign shortly after. By this time, Dean had roughly figured out that, given his position as the mastermind of the "cover-up," it would probably be difficult to get the deal completely exempt.However, he still decided to increase his chips and strive for the best result.So, he also handed over the crimes committed by the "plumber" of the White House.In this way, the word "President" was almost all that was missing in his explanation. Soon, Nixon finally knew the betrayal of his legal adviser Dean to his associates, and also knew that his name was hanging on Dean's mouth, and he would slip out as soon as he let go.Nixon and the people below got together again to discuss "cover-up" countermeasures.It's just that one of the previous protagonists, Dean, is missing now. I don't know whether those people who have been spoken out by Dean are really loyal to the president, or they just calmed down knowing that they couldn't escape anyway.They agreed to do everything in their power to keep the president.This is the best policy for Nixon and others.Because for the people around the president, since they cannot escape and will go to jail, only by keeping Nixon in the position of president can the president's amnesty power be used to rescue them in the future. The power of amnesty is indeed a prerogative conferred on the President by the Constitution.Nixon wanted to use it as a weapon at a critical moment.Of course, the Nixons knew without guessing that Dean used them as bargaining chips in exchange for immunity from prosecution.Once it is exempted, no matter how ruined it is, it is better than staying in prison.However, they went one step further and thought, what if this guy's idea is cut off? If Dean's immunity fails, won't he also have to go to jail and count on the president's amnesty?Isn't this also a deal?Therefore, they came to a conclusion that it was useless to ask Dean to show mercy to the President. The only way was to stop his thinking about "immunity", force him to think about prison, and force him to treat Nixon as a He opened a key to the prison backwards and held it tightly in his mouth. Then, President Nixon issued another statement on television.Among them is that no one who holds a prominent position in the executive branch should enjoy immunity from prosecution because of the development of the investigation.On the one hand, Nixon made a good show in front of the people of the whole country, assuming that he would not show favoritism to the officials of the administrative system he was in charge of.On the other hand, they fulfilled their plan in an attempt to break Dean's "immunity" illusion. It was mid-April, 1973, Nixon's third month in office.The whole of the United States is still quite calm. Although the newspapers are gradually introducing new developments in the trial and investigation of the "Watergate Incident", generally speaking, people still think that the "Watergate Incident" is just a "election episode" that has passed.With regard to the news reports gradually appearing in the newspapers that someone from the White House was involved in the case, under the categorical denials of the White House and Nixon, everyone seemed skeptical. As you can see, what happened before cannot be discovered in a day or two with the ability of the press.Therefore, the American public is basically standing on the periphery far away at this time, waiting for development.But the press has been relentless, and the temperature is creeping up.Relevant reports have gradually risen from the tenth page of the newspaper to the first page. Here I would like to mention another case.Do you remember the "leaker" named Ellsberg in the "Pentagon Papers Case"?Nixon once hated him deeply, so he specially organized "Plumbers" to conduct a series of illegal investigations on him.As a result, these illegal investigations did not uncover any great facts, nor did they help Nixon achieve his goal of harming him.However, they would never have thought that it was their illegal actions that would help Ellsberg in the future.What's going on here? Ellsberg's case was pending when Dean revealed the activities of the "plumber."The situation that Dean talked about, everything related to the Ellsberg case must be handed over to the judge of the case according to the law.These materials about the "plumber" caused another sensation in Ellsberg's court.The defense of the defendant's lawyer has more room to display. The transfer of these materials was approved by Nixon because he had to.He knew that this would be of great benefit to Ellsberg, but absolutely not to himself, so he could only do so.Nixon did not have the power and guts to blatantly withhold these materials. It is precisely because of these materials of "Plumber" that it proves that the administrative department of the government, as the plaintiff, had the motive and behavior to frame and persecute the defendant Ellsberg.Accordingly, the judge announced that the case was suspended in accordance with the spirit of the U.S. Constitution.Ellsberg, who was almost "conclusive" at first, went home easily!Nixon, who originally wanted to punish Ellsberg, helped him a lot, because the law prohibited the government from persecuting civilians. Only then did Nixon realize that even the "plumber" was no longer a secret. The two main leaders of the "Plumber", Nixon's true confidantes Geldemann and Errichmann, were immediately forced to resign. The situation that the Nixons least wanted to happen happened inexorably as scheduled.The judicial process and congressional hearings to investigate the "Watergate Incident" will start almost simultaneously.Congressional hearings are completely public and broadcast live to the nation on television. Look at the judicial side first.Due to the resignation of the current Attorney General Kredist and the former Attorney General Mitchell's involvement in the case, the Ministry of Justice under the executive branch of the government is obviously untrustworthy.Therefore, the Senate voted unanimously to appoint an "independent prosecutor".The independent prosecutor was appointed by newly appointed Attorney General Richardson.He picked a Harvard law professor for the job. As soon as this independent prosecutor named Cox took office, he made a lot of fuss about the word "independent".He took full independent investigative powers from the new Attorney General Richardson.As a law professor, he certainly knows that the key to investigating and prosecuting "bosses' bosses" who are in the same administrative system as himself is to break free from the control and entanglement of these people.Otherwise, what would he do as an "independent prosecutor"? Cox "independently" recruited and organized his special counsel's office.They still have a long investigation process. In this way, the procedure of the Senate hearing has come to the front. Before the start of the Senate hearing, there were also some twists and turns.The cause was the "immunity deal issue" of key witness Dean.You may be wondering, the Senate is Congress, not a court, so what deal can he have with the Senate? In fact, in this type of congressional hearings, in exchange for the testimony of witnesses, there is also a "confession and leniency" deal similar to the judicial system.However, the Senate has no judicial power in its hands, so what can it exchange for testimony?It has a "transfer immunity", or "use immunity". That is to say, it can grant an incomplete "immunity". This "immunity" does not constitute the use of judicial power beyond its authority and exempts witnesses from judicial prosecution.Instead, "immunity from prosecution" for everything witnesses say at congressional hearings.That is, the judicial system cannot prosecute a witness based solely on what the witness said in a congressional hearing. To put it bluntly, Congress agreed to create a temporary "judicial deafness" environment for witnesses.At congressional hearings, no matter what you say, people in the judiciary can only temporarily become "deaf" and cannot hear.Since they can't hear you, of course it's impossible to sue you and cause you any trouble.In other words, if the judiciary wants to prosecute him with these contents, he must find a way to make him repeat it again when the judicial system testifies, otherwise he can only go. Of course, in the Senate Investigation Committee, there are also some Republicans who want to help Nixon, and they don't want to see Dean bite Nixon without scruples on TV.But when it came time to vote, they were in the minority.Dean still got "transfer immunity" as a result of the vote. On May 17, 1973, the congressional hearings finally began.Although on TV, the senators have warned the audience across the country in advance that the testimony of all witnesses can only be regarded as one-sided statements, and they are not verified and indisputable ironclad evidence. That is to say, although the witnesses swore, there is no guarantee perjury.However, the two-week testimony of wiretapping expert McCaulder still caused a great shock among the people. McCord talked about how the money Liddy used to break into Watergate actually came from former Attorney General Mitchell, and that it was illegally using campaign funds.He even confessed that he had received a promise to be forgiven in the future.In the United States, everyone knows that only the president has the power of amnesty to pardon criminals.So, if this testimony is true, then even the President is involved in this case. Next, the former Republican president is re-elected as the vice chairman of the committee. His status is not the same as that of McCaulder who led the Cubans into the "Watergate". Therefore, the layers involved in his testimony are also natural. Much higher.Except for one or two people, including President Nixon, he carefully avoided, and almost all other people involved in the case have been included. Nixon had been pretending to be innocent in public for nearly a year, but this time, he could no longer pretend.For the first time, he admitted to the public on TV that he knew about the wiretapping of the White House office, about the "plumber", and about the White House's private investigation into the leaker of the "Secret Pentagon Documents".However, Nixon insisted that these actions were taken to protect national security, so he wanted to deny the illegality of these actions. The problem is, America is not dictated by the president.Americans have always only accepted the constitution, and the power to interpret the constitution has nothing to do with the president. The power to interpret the constitution is in the hands of the Supreme Court. This is the "judicial review" we mentioned earlier.In the power structure of the government, in terms of individual rights, the President of the United States probably has the greatest power.If the power to interpret the Constitution is also handed over to him.The whole "cash register" might not work. I have spoken of the origin of the right to judicial review before.You can also see that although the specific design of this brake switch was completed by Justice Marshall, it is still a concrete realization of the balance and check relationship established by the founding fathers of the United States among the three branches of government.And the power of the president is the biggest goal that the founders of the United States want to set limits on. If the power to interpret the Constitution is also in the hands of the president, one day God knows which powerful president will interpret the Constitution beyond recognition in order to expand his power.The present President Nixon is a perfect example.If he were to interpret the Constitution, under the banner of "maintaining national security," the constitutional regulations on protecting citizens' right to privacy would have long been useless and become a dead letter.Fortunately, it seems that two hundred years ago, the founders of the United States expected that such a "Nixon" would come out sooner or later, and they would show such a trick.When Nixon defended his violation of the Constitution by "maintaining national security" in front of the TV, I don't know if he heard the relaxed laughter of the founders in the distant heaven. The testimony of Nixon's legal adviser, Dean, was one of the most anticipated events.In order to exert pressure, he kept leaking some content to the press, making people wait for his key testimony early.Accompanied by his beautiful wife, Wenwen read his statement quietly and answered all questions.In this seemingly ordinary, all the illegal plans we mentioned earlier were brought out. At the time, the congressional investigative committee was bipartisan.Chairman Irving is a Democrat, but Vice Chairman Peck is a Republican who has a good relationship with Nixon.Suddenly he asked a question.Later, when it was widely believed that he was trying to get Nixon on his side, he asked, "What did the president know? When did he know it?" This hurdle has not been relaxed, so people speculated afterwards that Peake must have thought that Dean would keep the president within the bottom line of his confession.Therefore, I want Dean to confirm to the entire American people in front of the TV that "the president does not know." However, Dean's answer was completely unexpected. Then, all the Americans were stunned, listening to Dean tell the whole story of Nixon's involvement in the "cover-up" operation that we already know.Countless instances of massive obstruction of justice, money gags, promises of amnesty, blah, blah, blah.Probably, many Americans were asking that day, is this the president we have elected? The hearing is over.During this period, the Senate asked Nixon for his opinion on the request for documents from the White House, but he flatly refused.Nixon said the White House document remained within his "executive prerogative."However, although the congressional hearing is not a court, but in the face of such astonishing testimony at the hearing, the accusations are of No. 1 and No. 2 figures. No one in the congressional investigative committee dares to take it lightly and act hastily.The matter is really important, and they still need more physical evidence to confirm that the testimony of these witnesses is not there to make up stories. Therefore, at the same time as the hearing, members of the congressional investigative committee interviewed many White House staff.Nixon knew that there were only a few of his cronies, and the current situation was such that the worst thing that should have happened had happened.In fact, those ordinary White House staff don't know the inside story at all, and they can't talk about it.There was no need for him to put any more grounds on this matter to hinder the investigation.Therefore, he asked his consultant to take care of the staff below, what to say, don't lie.Then President Nixon, devastated, contracted a bout of viral pneumonia and was hospitalized. Nixon would never have expected that such an interview with an ordinary staff member would reveal a big leak.It happened to a staffer who used to schedule the president.I couldn't get an appointment with him.因为他不仅已经调离白宫，而且正准备到国外出差，国会调查员还是及时找到了他。在谈话中调查员无意中问了一句，问有些白宫的谈话笔录是怎么搞出来的。这名前白宫工作人员，对这个自己早已熟知的日常工作问题根本没放在心上。他说，有录音啊，只要尼克松总统在场，一切都是录下来的。 只见调查员们的耳朵马上都竖起来了。 这种总统谈话全部作录音的情况并不是白宫的常规操作。这件事对外也是保密的。那么，尼克松为什么要这样做呢？这种做法据说是罗斯福总统首创的。此后断断续续有个别总统也这样做。录音的动机都是为了留下资料，并且作为自己写回忆录的参考。这完全是总统的个人行为。卸任之后，录音带就像总统的其他私人物品一样，将会被全部带走。这些录音本身也可以说是价值连城的财产。 技术的进步加上尼克松的野心，使得尼克松的录音规模超过了以往任何总统的录音。尼克松的录音系统是自动的，全面的，形成一个周密的网络。不仅涵盖了白宫各个总统办公室和电话，而且连传统的美国总统度假地戴维营都囊括在内。也就是说，尼克松几乎把自己在工作期间全部的谈话都录下来了！ 这名前白宫工作人员立即被传到国会听证会。在电视机前，大家都看到了他的作证。现在，所有的美国人都知道有那么一堆总统录音在那里。漫长的听证会里，大家已经听了那么多天方夜谭般的总统违法的故事。现在好了，是骡子是马，牵出来遛遛吧。 这时，尼克松还住在医院里。曾经当过军人的黑格将军一看录音的事被暴露了，先下令停了整个录音系统，整整五千个小时的全部录音带，被集中到一个的房间。然后，在尼克松的病房里一起商量这么办。以副总统阿格钮为首的几个人主张销毁录音带，我想，这是一种本能的反应。所以，持这个意见的也包括尼克松夫人在内。 但是也有反对这样做的，反对的理由也很充分。因为全美国人都通过电视明确知道了录音带的存在，公然销毁证据就是公然宣称与国会，法律以及全美国人民对抗，这将成为国会弹劾的最强有力的动因。 当然，还有一些理由，例如，录音带的存在至少可以防止某些坦白者的诬陷；录音带本身难以估量的价值；以及如何销毁如此大量带子的技术问题。 但是，我相信后面一些理由都不是主要的。 我相信这些录音带最终留下来的主要原因，还是由于尼克松对于这样一个基本概念还是很清楚的。美国总统是唯一全民直选的，受全美国人民委托代为处理公众事务的最高行政官员。全体美国人民信托了你，你不可能调过头来与全体人民公然对抗之后，还在这个总统位子上待下去。 第二天，国会调查委员会，和司法部长任命的独立检察官，从权力监督的两个方向，分别送来了书面通知，要求总统交出有关的录音带。 尼克松又一次援引了他的“行政特权”，用以对付国会。也就是说，重申他的录音带是政府权力的行政分支的正常工作记录，国会作为政府权力的另一个独立分支，无权干涉行政分支的正常工作。换句话说，行政分支的工作录音，立法分支无权审听。 上述理由尽管在如今的情况下，不会起什么太大的作用，可是，至少可以再抵挡一阵。叫尼克松感到更为头痛，甚至对付不了的，反倒是他自己行政系统里的部下，也就是那名叫考克斯的独立检察官。 你也许会奇怪了。司法部长是尼克松亲自任命的，独立检察官又是司法部长所任命的，怎么就管不了呢？的确，独立检察官在这个权力制约系统里，是非常特殊的一环。在美国政府的权力构架里，行政分支和司法分支在一个环节上是相交的。也就是对于刑事案件的调查和起诉的执行，在行政分支一方。这就是行政系统里有一个司法部的原因。 但是，为了防止美国政府的执行机构迫害平民，因此，在权力构架上，就把决定一个刑事被告命运的整个审理判决权，彻底分了出来。如果不这样分割权力的话，那么，一旦美国政府的行政执行机构要找哪一个平民麻烦的话，调查起诉在它手里，审理判决也在它手里，平民也就只能任其宰割了。权力分割，加上公平审理的具体操作规定，再加上陪审团的保障，进可能避免美国政府官员蓄意迫害平民的可能性。 说到这里，你一定看出了这个权力体系设计的一个漏洞。确实，我刚才介绍的这个结构，出发点首先是考虑保护普通美国人的公民权。但是，还有一个非常重要的方面，就是，如何控制政府行政机构本身的刑事犯罪。尤其是在执行机构的高层犯罪中，既然行政与司法的分割，就意味着刑事案的调查起诉与审理判决的分割，意味着司法分支无权过问调查起诉。那么高层犯罪分子是否就可以让下面的司法部干脆不调查不起诉，不就可以为所欲为，逃避法律惩罚了吗？这确实是一个漏洞，美国人也从水门一案中看出了这个问题。 有意思的是，在考虑设置独立检察官的时候，必须有一个检察官的任命问题。一开始，美国人也不知如何是好，想来想去，原来刑事调查起诉的权力是在行政一方，所以不论由立法分支的国会，还是由司法分支的法院去任命独立检察官，好象都有点牛头不对马嘴。结果，任命权就还是留在司法部长手里。这样，这个监督机制设计一个无法解决的先天缺陷，就在美国人第一次遇到总统犯罪的情况下，面临考验了。 应该说，在正常情况下，美国的政府官员还是非常注意自己的职务形象的。也就是说，在处理事务的时候，司法部长必须表现得象一个司法部长，而不是只象总统的一个部下或者跟班。这并不是说美国的政府官员在人品上就比其他地方的官员高一筹，而是他们已经习惯了在国会和新闻界的严密监督下任职。他们不管愿意还是不愿意，如果想把这个官当下去，就必须尽可能地公事公办。 所以，在如此关键时刻当上新任司法部长的理查德森，明明知道独立检察官对尼克松来讲可谓性命悠关。可是，他在任命这个哈佛法学教授考克斯担任此职的时候，甚至连问都没有问过尼克松一声。一副秉公办理的架式。 独立检察官考克斯就更是不信邪了。他本来就是一个法学教授，一上任又从司法部长那里要来了绝对独立的调查起诉权。所以他刚开始工作的劲头，就让尼克松们大呼“不好”。考克斯在国会公开听证会开始一个月后，就对新闻界发表讲话，说他正在考虑要求法庭出传票传总统出庭作证。作为学者，他还甚至还对新闻界谈到他正在研究的一个法学学术问题，就是一个总统在受到弹劾之前能否被起诉。 这番话让尼克松们一听就“毛”了。当时黑格就对新任司法部长理查德森说过，总统要考克斯“走人”。这就是我刚才提到的，对独立检察官的任命权，是在理论上一直很难解决的一个悖论式的缺陷。任命权和解职权是一对双胞胎，任命权解决不好，独立检察官的生存就有问题。 黑格的非正式“传令”当时被司法部长顶了一顶，暂时也就过去了。一方面，当时尼克松们的注意力全部都在国会听证会上，至于独立检察官考克斯，他的话虽然讲得难听，但是，他还处在调查阶段，还没有什么大的动作出来。另一方面，独立检察官本身也是一个敏感话题，不到万不得已，尼克松也没有必要为了他再掀起新闻界新的一波攻击浪潮。发生在行政系统内的这个对抗就这么搁下了。 可是，当独立检察官考克斯把要求尼克松总统交出录音带的一刻起，这个对抗马上就凸现了出来。此后，考克斯不断受到来自总统方向的告诫。让他明白，自己这个职位是在总统所统领的行政分支之下的。也就是说，他应该是隶属于并且服从于总统的。只有在总统认为合适的情况下才可以接触总统的材料。而不是象现在这样，自以为可以凌驾于总统之上。司法部长理查德森则又一次感到了压力，要他管不了考克斯就干脆把考克斯给解雇了。 独立检察官眼看着和自己理论上的“上司”就得短兵相接了。 然而，考克斯对这场短兵相接一点儿也不犯怯。他稳稳当当地按司法程序一步一步地走。他先从法官西里卡那里获准得到了一张传票。通知尼克松，由总统本人或者他的下属官员，带着九次谈话的录音带到庭候审。那天下午，考克斯就带着一名警官，居然动真格的，硬是跑到白宫给总统送传票去了。一切过程就像是到一个普通美国公民家里去送法庭传票一样，唯一的不同，是警官在进白宫之前，把枪留在了门卫室。 尼克松拒绝了。他说，他尽管怀有对法庭的最高尊重，但是拒绝这样的要求。因为这种要求与总统的宪法地位不相符，总统不从属于法庭的强迫性程序。法官西里卡收到这封来自总统的抗拒信，又下了一个命令，要求尼克松提供录音带不能交出来作为证据的理由。 你看到这里，必定要问了。尼克松的抗拒是不是真有道理呢？美国总统的宪法地位是不是应该在法庭的强迫性程序之外呢？这个问题是问在点子上了。事实上，谁也不知道。也就是说，这次罕见的美国总统的刑事犯罪，实际上已经形成了一次美国历史上的宪法危机。 应该说，美国总统当然也是一个普通的美国公民。美国的总统基本上是定义在一个非常实际的执行主管的位子上的，而不象其他的许多总统制国家，它们的总统都多多少少地具有更大的国家象征的意义。美国人在对待他们总统的问题上，还是十分符合他们一贯的务实作风。 但是，总统与平民毕竟不是完全相同的。既然是全美国人民选出来的这么一个总统，处理与总统有关的事情也就必须特别慎重，因此美国宪法对于弹劾总统也规定了一套特定的程序。在美国历史上，就有过一个总统被国会众院提议弹劾，但是因为参院投票达不到宪法规定的票数而弹劾失败的。因此，在尼克松之前，还没有一个美国总统被真正弹劾成功过。美国宪法确实赋予总统一些特权，但是，大家确实也没有遇到过尼克松这样的情况。 因为，美国宪法给总统犯罪也设定了一些有效的制约，例如弹劾，但是弹劾是在立法分支的程序里的。宪法并没有对尼克松这样的情况作详尽的规定。也就是当一个总统涉嫌刑事重罪，在立法和司法从两个方向逼近的时候，立法分支的弹劾还没有开始，司法却抢先走在了前面。 当司法程序要求一个总统服从正常司法程序的时候，司法是否对总统也有对普通美国公民一样的权力？总统是否真有特权拒绝服从强制性的司法程序？ 暂时，独立检察官考克斯和法官西里卡，象征着美国法律的一方，和尼克松总统，象征着美国政府权力执行机构的一方，就在这宪法的路口，僵持住了。这真是十分惊险的一刻。 在这种情况下，应该谁说了算呢？在美国的逻辑下，答案是不难找到的，最终应该是美国人民说了算。法庭因此召开了一个公开的历史性的法庭会议。在这个会上，法官西里卡决定，让大陪审团，也就是在司法程序中一向象征着美国人民的那些普通陪审员，公开表达他们的意愿。这是整个“水门事件”中最庄严的一刻。 这二十三名由随机抽样的方式，被偶然招到这个案子中作为陪审员的普通美国人，代表美国人民站了起来。法官西里卡按规矩一个接一个地分别向每一个陪审员提出一个相同的问题，“你是否要求总统对拒绝交出证据提供理由？” 所有的陪审员都依次回答：“是的。” 尼克松总统再怎么办呢？等我的下一次的信再向你介绍。我们已经接近故事的结局了，但是，依然惊心动魄。也许这是一个规律，要一个权势人物放弃手中的权力，总是困难的。权势越大，越困难。 今天就写到这儿了。 wish it is good! Linda