The Pursuit of the Evidence

Painstakingly acquired over 20 months and neatly catalogued, the lode of evidence mined by the Watergate special prosecutor could save the House Judiciary Committee months of work in its impeachment inquiry. Yet the committee has been slow to go into court to seek the material from Prosecutor Leon Jaworski. It finally began to move to get it last week, even as its staff continued weighing the various options in a complex legal situation.

Chairman Peter Rodino's committee intends to seek the evidence in two parallel paths. It will first request the material directly from the White House, and will promptly subpoena it if the President's attorneys refuse to comply. Jaworski rightly declares that he is bound by law not to give grand jury evidence to any other body unless a court orders him to do so. Last week he turned over to the committee a helpful list of the 17 tapes and more than 700 documents that his staff has acquired.

Simultaneously with the request to the White House, the committee staff, headed by John Doar, intends to seek evidence directly from Jaworski in a way that will give President Nixon's lawyers the slimmest chance of going into court to stall the turnover.* To do so, the Judiciary Committee staff has several options:

1) It could file a motion with Federal Judge John J. Sirica, who supervises all three of the Watergate grand juries, asking him to order that all the evidence be given to the impeachment inquiry once the grand juries have reported their indictments. If Sirica were to issue such an order, only fast White House action in a higher court could possibly prevent its execution.

2) It could issue subpoenas directly to Jaworski for the material. Jaworski would probably seek a ruling from Sirica on whether he should comply with the subpoena, and Judiciary Committee staffers believe that the White House might have some difficulty demonstrating a legal right to intervene.

3) If either of the first two steps were to be tied up by White House legal maneuvers, the committee could seek legislation in Congress to acquire the evidence. Nixon could veto the bill, but Congress would probably override such an obviously self-serving move.

The Judiciary Committee thus seems certain to acquire the special prosecutor's files, although the timing is uncertain. The White House's sudden decision to cut off further compliance with Jaworski's requests for evidence could indicate that it will also resist efforts by the Judiciary Committee to get important documents. Some investigators believe that a key to prompt turnover of the evidence held by Jaworski lies in making the necessary legal moves while Sirica, who has vividly demonstrated his desire to expose the full Watergate truth, is still chief judge. He must step down on March 19, his 70th birthday, becoming a senior judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Then he would no longer automatically handle committee motions to acquire evidence.

* The White House has generally been supplying copies of documents to Jaworski, although he has been able to get originals if he doubts the authenticity of copies. The White House apparently would make more copies for the Rodino committee if Nixon agrees to cooperate.

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