What the President Had to Say Before

IN the months between the time that the Watergate burglary was first revealed in the press (June 17) and the time when Nixon announced (April 17) that he had learned of new "serious charges," it was mostly presidential surrogates who issued the denials of White House involvement. The President himself said remarkably little about the affair. Here are his principal statements:

> On June 22, five days after the Watergate breakin, Nixon said at a news conference that such an act "has no place whatever in our electoral process, or in our governmental process," and added that "the White House has had no involvement whatever in this particular incident."

> On Aug. 29, at a press conference Nixon "categorically" denied that anyone on the White House staff or at that time employed anywhere in his Administration was involved in what he called "this very bizarre incident." He blamed the break-in on "overzealous people" and promised that there would be no attempt to cover up the facts, saying, "We want the air cleared. We want it cleared as soon as possible."

> On Oct. 5, Nixon denied that he knew anything about the break-in and told the press that he was pleased with the FBI's investigation. "I wanted every lead carried out to the end because I wanted to be sure that no member of the White House staff and no man or woman in a position of major responsibility in the Committee for Re-election had anything to do with this kind of reprehensible activity."

> On March 2, Nixon said that Executive privilege would apply to John W. Dean III, and that he would not permit his counsel to testify before the Senate select committee investigating Watergate. Said Nixon: "No President could ever agree to allow the counsel to the President to go down and testify before a committee."

> On April 17, Nixon reversed field. He told reporters that he had begun "intensive new inquiries" into the Watergate affair, as a result of "serious charges which came to my attention." He said no one in the Administration should be given "immunity from prosecution," adding: "I condemn any attempts to cover up this case, no matter who is involved."

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