Negotiations continue all week: Nixon, Haig, Richardson, Cox.
On Wednesday, the Stennis compromise becomes a formal written offer. Cox doesn't rule it out right away, but insists, on Thursday the 18th, on several points. The actual tapes must be available at any trials. Moreover, Cox refuses to sign away the option of asking for additional tapes -- remember, they are now fighting only about the nine conversations in the original subpoena.
Nixon also hears, on Thursday, that Cox is working on Nixon's (and Bebe Rebozo's) taxes -- something the president considers beyond the scope of the special prosecutor. Haig phones Richardson to complain.
That evening, Richardson meets with Haig and Nixon's lawyers. The White House clearly wants Cox fired; indeed, one of the lawyers calls Cox directly, later that night, rejecting both of Cox's conditions. Haig has Nixon that night saying: "No more tapes, no more documents, nothing more! I want an order from me to Elliot [Richardson] to Cox to that effect now."
Drew has Ted Kennedy, on the evening news, threatening that Gerald Ford should be rejected if Ford "refuses to acknowledge the obligation of the President to obey the Supreme Court" on the tapes.
With the next day, Friday, as the deadline for appealing to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is threatening to cut off oil to the US, and Egil Krogh pleads not guilty in his trial over the Ellsberg break-in.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
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Do you think at this point Nixon's authority is starting to slip? Can everyone see 'mene, mene tekel upharsin' up there on the wall, and is that playing a part in his trouble with the courts, Richardson, Cox, firing Cox etc? Or is that just what you'd expect anyway given the weakness of the US presidency?
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