The Watergate Road Map: What are the Documents?
As Benjamin Wittes has flagged, on Oct. 31 the National Archives released the Watergate “Road Map” produced by the office of Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski and sent to Congress as a referral for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. The Archives has not only made the Road Map itself public, but has also collected a trove of related information that may be of interest to readers. We sketch out the categories of documents below.
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As Benjamin Wittes has flagged, on Oct. 31 the National Archives released the Watergate “Road Map” produced by the office of Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski and sent to Congress as a referral for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. The Archives has not only made the Road Map itself public, but has also collected a trove of related information that may be of interest to readers. We sketch out the categories of documents below.
The Road Map itself, as described by a National Archives declaration unsealed in part by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, “consists of a two-page summary statement, followed by 53 individually numbered statements,” which each “provide[] citations to documents supporting that statement.” The Archives informed the court that “there are 97 documents supporting the 53 statements of information” and that researchers had been “able to locate duplicates of 81 of the documents included in the Roadmap … published or released in the Watergate collection or elsewhere in the public domain.”
That leaves 16 documents cited in the Road Map that have never before been published. It’s not clear what the status of these documents are. Chief Judge Beryl Howell ordered on Oct. 11, 2018 that the government “shall, by October 22, 2018, review the 16 remaining documents in the Road Map that NARA has not been able to locate publicly, and shall contact any individuals whose privacy might be implicated by the release of those 16 documents to ascertain their views regarding whether those 16 documents may be released.” However, the government’s status update announcing the release of the Road Map doesn’t specifically address that material.
While the National Archives page includes the 97 supporting documents along with the Road Map, each labeled as a “Grand Jury Attachment,” eight documents appear to have been been denied release under FOIA in full or in part, and the accompanying sections of the Road Map are redacted. It’s not clear whether these eight documents belong to the group of originally unpublished 16 documents, have been withheld for another reason, or some combination of the two. A list of the supporting documents, with the withheld documents labeled, is available at the bottom of this post.
In addition to the Road Map itself and the 97 supporting documents, the National Archives webpage includes an additional tranche of related material. Three of those documents—two of which make up the “Correspondence and Litigation File” regarding the Road Map and one of which is a transcript of proceedings before Judge John Sirica—are directly related to the Road Map itself. But it’s unclear how many of this material was previously public in any form. They make up #1-4, #5A, #5B, and #6 (not including #6A) of the documents listed in the below table of contents, also published by the Archives; the Road Map and accompanying documents are labeled as #5. (Update: After publication of this post, the National Archives clarified that Road Map documents listed as File #5 were released to the public for the first time on Oct. 31. All other material, including 5A and 5B, was previously available in the Archives' research room but has only just been digitized.)
A full list of the documents, along with links, is included below. Documents in italics are not part of the Road Map. Documents that remain sealed in full or in part are indicated as such.
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(2) Peter Rient -- Preliminary Draft of Possible Presentment, February 1, 1974 |
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(4) Nixon Evidentiary Report, February 7, 1974 [Frampton Draft] |
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(5) Grand Jury Report and Recommendation to the House of Representatives (Road Map) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 1.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of Paul O'Brien, January 24, 1974, pp. 27-30) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 1.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of E. Howard Hunt, July 17, 1973, pp. 87-95) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 1.3 (Grand jury Testimony of E. Howard Hunt, January 29, 1974, pp. 63-71) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 2.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, February 14, 1974, pp. 13-14) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 2.2 (Copy of U.S. Secret Service White House Appointment Record, March 19, 1973, 5:30 p.m., for Paul O'Brien. Iten 1.1, p. 39) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 3.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Ehrlichman, September 13, 1973, pp. 2-6) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 3.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of Egil Krogh, January 29, 1974, pp. 5-10) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 4.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, February 14, 1974, pp. 14-16) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 5.1 (Tape recording of a meeting on the morning of March 21, 1973, between the President and John Dean, during which H.R. Haldeman was present for a part of the meeting, and transcript thereof.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 5.2 (Dictabelt recording of the President's recollections of March 21, 1973 and transcript thereof) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 6.1 (H.R. Haldeman's telephone log for March 21, 1973, furnished by White House counsel to the FBI, February 14, 1974) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 6.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of H.R. Haldeman, January 30, 1974, pp. 4-16) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 7.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of Fred LaRue, February 13, 1974, pp. 7-10A) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 8.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, February 14, 1974, p. 17) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 8.2 (Meeting logs of H.R. Haldeman, March 21, 1973) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 8.3 (Meeting logs of John Ehrlichman, March 21, 1973) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 9.1 (Tape recording of a meeting on the afternoon of March 21, 1973, between the President, H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and John Dean, and transcript thereof) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 10.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of Fred LaRue, February 13, 1974, pp. 2-6) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 10.2 (Grand Jury testimony of Manyon Millican, February 13, 1974, passim.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 10.3 (Grand Jury testimony of Sherman Unger, February 19, 1974, passim.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 10.4 (Grand Jury Exhibits SU-1 through SU-7, February 19, 1974) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 10.5 (Grand Jury Testimony of William O. Bittman, August 3, 1973, pp. 189-191, 194-196) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 10.6 (Grand Jury Testimony of E. Howard Hunt, July 17, 1973, pp. 95, 111-112) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 11.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, February 14, 1974, pp. 17-18) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 11.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of H.R. Haldeman, January 30, 1974, pp. 36-38) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 11.3 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Ehrlichman, September 13, 1973, pp. 67-73) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 12.1 (Tape recording of a meeting on the afternoon of March 22, 1973, between the President, John Mitchell, H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and John Dean, and transcript thereof, Tr. 16-18, 32.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 12.2 (H.R. Haldeman's notes of the meeting referred to in item 12.1) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 13.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of Egil Krogh, January 29, 1974, pp. 10-11) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 14.1 (Not available) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 15.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of Ronald Ziegler, February 12, 1974, pp. 62-65) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 15.2 (Copies of AP and UPI wire clips for March 26, 1973) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 16.1 (Dictabelt recording of a telephone conversation between John Ehrlichman and Richard Kleindienst on or about March 28, 1973, and transcript thereof) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 17.1 (Senate Select Committee Testimony of John Ehrlichman, July 27, 1973, Daily Tr. 5724.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 18.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of Ronald Ziegler, February 12, 1974, pp. 71-72) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 18.2 (Transcript of White House press briefing, March 30, 1973 (#1704, p. 708)) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 19.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of Henry Petersen, February 5, 1974, pp. 2-12, and August 23, 1973, pp. 68-72) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 19.2 (Excerpt from a transcribed interview with Henry Petersen, May 29, 1973, pp. 29-30) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 19.3 (President's notes of meetings on April 15, 1973, with Kleindienst, Peterson, and Dean) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 20.1 (President's Daily Diary for April 15, 1973) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 20.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, February 14, 1974, pp. 20-24) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 21.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of Henry Petersen, February 5, 1974, pp. 24-27) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 21.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Ehrlichman, May 3, 1973, pp. 177-179) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 21.3 (Grand Jury Testimony of L. Patrick Gray, July 20, 1973, pp. 113-118) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 22.1 (Tape recording of a meeting on the morning of April 16, 1973, between the President and John Dean, and transcript thereof.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 23.1 (Tape recording and transcript of a meeting on April 16, 1973, Tr. 13-14) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 24.1 (Logs of Henry's Petersen's conversation with the President) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 24.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of Henry Petersen, February 4, 1974, pp. 12-23, 29-33, and August 23, 1973, pp. 71-75; available except for p. 5-6) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 25.1 (Logs of H.R. Haldeman's conversations with the President) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 25.2 (Logs of John Ehrlichman's conversations with the President) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 25.3 (President's Daily Diary for April 19, 1973) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 26.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of Henry Petersen, August 23, 1973, pp. 73-75) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 27.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of H.R. Haldeman, January 30, 1974, pp. 25-31) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 27.2 (H.R. Haldeman's notes of listening to Item 5.1.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 28.1 (Tape recording of portions of a conversation on June 4, 1973, between the President and Alexander Haig, and transcript thereof.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 28.2 (Not available) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 29.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of Jeb S. Magruder, May 2, 1973, pp. 22-25) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 29.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of Fred LaRue, April 18, 1973, pp. 7-12) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 29.3 (Grand Jury Testimony of Fred LaRue, April 18, 1973, pp. 7-12) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 29.4 (Grand Jury Testimony of Robert Reisner, August 15, 1973, pp. 38-44) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 29.5 (Senate Select Committee Testimony of H.R. Haldeman, excerpt from Daily Tr. 6071-72, Grand Jury Exhibit # R5, February 26, 1974) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 29.6 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, November 19, 1973, pp. 23-29) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 30.1 (Not available) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 31.1 (President's Daily Diary for June 20, 1972) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 31.2 (H.R. Haldeman's notes of a meeting with the President on June 20, 1972) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 32.1 (Excerpt from a dictabelt recording of the President's recollections of June 20, 1972, and transcript thereof) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 33.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, November 19, 1973, pp. 93, 102-103) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 34.1 (Tape recording of a portion of a meeting between the President, H.R. Haldeman, and John Mitchell, on June 30, 1972, and transcript thereof. ) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 35.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of L. Patrick Gray, July 19, 1973, pp. 101-103) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 36.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Ehrlichman, September 13, 1973, pp. 88-92 and 127-128) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 37.1 (Tape recording of a portion of a meeting between the President, H.R. Haldeman, and John Dean on September 15, 1972, and transcript thereof) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 37.2 (H.R. Haldeman's notes of the meeting referred to in Item 37.1) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 37.3 (H.R. Haldeman's notes of listening to the tape recording referred to in Item 37.1) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 38.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, November 20, 1973, pp. 34-36.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 38.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of H.R. Haldeman, January 30, 1974, pp. 124-126.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 39.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, February 14, 1974, pp. 7-8.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 40.1 (Not available) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 41.1 (Tape recording of a meeting between the President and John Dean on February 28, 1973, and transcript thereof.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 42.1 (Tape recording of a meeting between the President and John Dean on March 13, 1973, and transcript thereof.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 43.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, February 14, 1974, pp. 10-13) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 44.1 (Accompanying Statement by the President, May 22, 1973) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 44.2 (Statement by the President, May 22, 1973, p.6.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 44.3 (Statement by the President, August 15, 1973, p.2.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 44.4 (Transcript of news coverage by the President, August 22, 1973, 1973 Cong. Quarterly, Aug 25, 1973, p. 2334) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 45.1 (Transcript of a question and answer session by the President with A.P. Managing Editors, November 17, 1973, New York Times clips, November 18, 1973, p. 2. ) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 47.1 (Transcript of a news conference by the President, August 29, 1972, pp. 1-2.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 47.2 (Transcript of a news conference by the President, March 2, 1973, p. 12.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 47.3 (Not available) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 47.4 (Not available) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 47.5 (Not available) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 47.6 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Dean, November 19, 1973, pp. 48-50) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 48.1 (Statement by the President, Aptil 30, 1973, p.2.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 50.1 (Grand Jury Testimony of John Ehrlichman, September 13, 1973, pp. 138-140) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 50.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of Richard Kleindienst, August 9, 1973, pp. 67-69) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 51.1 (Statement by the President, April 17, 1973, p.2.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 51.2 (Grand Jury Testimony of Henry Petersen, August 23, 1973, pp. 68-69.) |
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(5) Grand Jury Attachment 51.3 (Grand Jury Testimony of Henry Petersen, February 5, 1974, p.7.) |
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(5A) Correspondence and Litigation File re Grand Jury Report (1 of 2) |
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(5A) Correspondence and Litigation File re Grand Jury Report (2 of 2) |
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(6) Nixon Evidentiary Summary, June 28, 1974 [Frampton Second Draft] |
