Dean Alleges Nixon Knew of Cover-up Plan

In the first, Dean reportedly told federal investigators that he was summoned to the White House oval office by Haldeman on Sept. 17, two days after the seven Watergate defendants were indicted.

Dean told investigators that he found Haldeman and the President "all grins" and in Dean's opinion they were pleased at the success of Dean's effort to keep the lid on and keep other officials in the administration from being indicted.

Dean reportedly quoted the President as saying, "Good job. Bob (Haldeman) told me what a great job you've been doing."

The second alleged incident occurred in December. Newsweek quoted Dean as saying that a lawyer for Watergate defendant E. Howard Hunt Jr. approached White House special counsel Charles W. Colson to say "something had to be done" to avoid a long jail term for Hunt.

Colson reportedly passed the request along to Dean and Ehrlichman, and Ehrlichman was said to have answered, "I'll check." According to the Newsweek account of Dean's statements Ehrlichman then walked into the oval office and returned with what he said was a promise of executive clemency for Hunt.

Ehrlichman then told Colson to tell Hunt's attorney that "everything is O.K." but not to be "too specific" in relaying the offer, according to the Newsweek account. That account was independently confirmed by The Washington Post.

Dean became involved in the Watergate investigation soon after the June 17 arrests at the Democrats' Watergate headquarters.

He sat in on the FBI interrogation of more than 15 White House aides and received 82 of the FBI's basic investigative files in the case.

Last Aug. 29, President Nixon cited an investigation by Dean as the basis for announcing that "no one in this administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident . . ."

Dean has told investigators that he never conducted any such investigation and the White House has conceded that Dean never personally supplied the President with any such report.

Dean has been implicated by CIA officials, former White House aides and former acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray III in the cover-up of Watergate. One former White House aide, John Caulfield, testified before the Senate select Watergate committee that Dean repeatedly ordered him to transmit offers of executive clemency to convicted Watergate burglar James McCord in return for his silence.

One associate of Dean said that Dean began to realize that the "house of cards on which the Watergate cover-up was erected" was about to come down during the Watergate trial in January, but more specifically in February and March during Senate confirmation hearings when Gray was nominated by Mr. Nixon to be permanent director.

On March 22, a day after Dean met with the President and reportedly urged full disclosure, Gray testified that Dean had "probably" lied when he told the FBI that he would have to check before he could say whether Hunt had a White House office.

Dean first went to the prosecutors with his story on April 6, according to the sources, and the President announced "major developments" in the case on April 17.

On April 19, The Washington Post published a story quoting federal sources as saying that former deputy campaign manager Jeb Stuart Magruder had implicated Dean in the planning of the Watergate operation and the subsequent payments to the conspirators for their silence.