May 31, 1974

Repub‐controlled NYS Assembly's refusal of urgent request from Gov M Wilson to amend new rent‐control law during 2‐day special session is seen most dramatic indication so far of apparently serious and growing breech between Wilson and Assembly Speaker Perry B Duryea; Wilson terms rebuff ‘deeply disappointing’ (M)

Pres Nixon's lawyers James D St Clair and Charles Alan Wright urge US Sup Ct not to bypass US Appeals Ct and rev White House tapes question (M)

Pan American World Airways secretly paid thousands of dollars to an organized‐crime ring to buy hack blank flight tickets stolen from the airline.

HR Judiciary Com formally warns Pres Nixon, in lr signed by com Chmn Repr P W Rodino Jr, that his defiance of com subpoenas ‘might constitute a ground for impeachment'; all but 1 of com's Dems, Repr J Conyers Jr, along with 8 of 17 Repubs, join in 28‐10 roll‐call vote to send lr; com votes, 37‐1, to issue its 3d subpoena for White House tapes, demanding 45 more recorded Watergate‐related conversations between Pres Nixon and former key aides; lone dissenter is Repr E Hutchinson; new subpoena also demands any White House documents relating to Watergate burglary and cover‐up attempt that may have been among files of 5 former Pres aides: H R Haldeman, John D Ehrlichman, John W Dean 3d, Charles W Colson and Gordon Strachan; Nixon's chief counsel James D St Clair tells reporters that com could not properly draw any adverse inferences from Nixon's rejection of subpoenas; says Nixon's position is rooted in const claim of exec privilege; com votes to continue impeachment hearings in closed sessions for at least several more wks; panel votes, 29‐9, to table motion by Conyers to seek immediate HR vote to impeach Pres for ‘contempt for and obstruction of the const process’ of impeachment; com votes, 27‐11, to table proposal by repr J R Waldie to initiate formal HR proceedings to cite Nixon for contempt of Cong; com rejects, 32‐6, 2 Repub‐sponsored plans to seek relief in Fed Cts; 1 proposal, by Repr T Railsback, sought enactment of law giving Fed cts jurisdiction to decide whether Nixon had const right to withhold impeachment evidence; other plan, offered by Repr D W Dennis, would have instructed com attys to file amicus curiae with Sup Ct in support of Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski's suit to force Nixon to release White House tapes for forthcoming criminal trials; many com votes reflect strong bipartisan view that Nixon's conduct had been ‘contemptuous’ of impeachment process and risked eventual determination that he could be impeached for withholding evidence and for what evidence might contain; Reprs C E Wiggins, W L Hungate, D Edwards, R McClory and G E Danielson comment; text of Rodino's lr to Nixon; illus of HR Judiciary Com members and staff, including Reprs E Holtzman, H D Donohue and Rodino (L)

special Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski assures Repr J J Pickle that task force will continue to investigate allegations that perjury concerning ITT was committed in Sen com hearings in Mar and Apr ‘72 into confirmation of Richard G Kleindienst as Atty Gen (S)