The skeleton in Fred Thompson's closet

Back in March, Mary Katherine Ham was gushing all over the prospect of Fred Thompson making a run for the Republican nomination for US president. In fact, she even gave us a look at the kind of "tough" scripted talk that Thompson is able to recite.

Now, Fred Thompson did something which many hold out as the defining moment in the Watergate scandal which brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. On July 16th, 1973, he asked White House aide Alexander Butterfield about the possibility of a recording system in the Oval Office with this question:

Mr. Butterfield, are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the President?

When Butterfield answered in the affirmative the scandal blew wide open. It provided the vital evidence needed to the big question posed by Republican senator Howard Baker which eventually forced Nixon out of office.

What did the President know, and when did he know it?

So, it would appear that Thompson, at the time an assistant US attorney and Watergate investigating counsel, was intent on pursuing the investigation and determining the possibility of the existence of a "smoking gun".

However, Butterfield had been asked that same question, in private, on July 13th, 1973 and Thompson had immediately been apprised of the answer. In the intervening three days Thompson ensured the White House knew that the question was going to be asked publicly.

How long has this revelation been around? A long time. Thompson actually revealed it in his 1975 book At That Point In Time, in which he states,

Even though I had no authority to act for the committee, I decided to call Fred Buzhardt at home. I wanted to be sure that the White House was fully aware of what was to be disclosed so that it could take appropriate action.

Whatever the appropriate action was.

There is more evidence of Thompson's role as a Nixon administration mole inside the Senate Watergate investigation.

Fred Thompson gained an image as a tough-minded investigative counsel for the Senate Watergate committee. Yet President Nixon and his top aides viewed the fellow Republican as a willing, if not too bright, ally, according to White House tapes.

Thompson, now preparing a bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, won fame in 1973 for asking a committee witness the bombshell question that revealed Nixon had installed hidden listening devices and taping equipment in the Oval Office.

Those tapes show Thompson played a behind-the-scenes role that was very different from his public image three decades ago. He comes across as a partisan willing to cooperate with the Nixon White House's effort to discredit the committee's star witness.

And while the Nixon White House didn't think much of Thompson early into the investigation, they came to view him as a Republican loyalist who could be trusted to keep them informed ahead of events.

"Oh shit, that kid," Nixon said when told by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, of Thompson's appointment on Feb. 22, 1973.

"Well, we're stuck with him," Haldeman said.

In a meeting later that day in the Old Executive Office Building, Baker assured Nixon that Thompson was up to the task. "He's tough. He's six feet five inches, a big mean fella," the senator told Nixon.

Publicly, Baker and Thompson presented themselves as dedicated to uncovering the truth. But Baker had secret meetings and conversations with Nixon and his top aides, while Thompson worked cooperatively with the White House and accepted coaching from Nixon's lawyer, J. Fred Buzhardt, the tapes and transcripts show.

"We've got a pretty good rapport with Fred Thompson," Buzhardt told Nixon in an Oval Office meeting on June 6, 1973.

And later.

Five days later, Buzhardt reported to Nixon that he had primed Thompson for the Dean cross-examination.

"I found Thompson most cooperative, feeling more Republican every day," Buzhardt said. "Uh, perfectly prepared to assist in really doing a cross-examination."

Later in the same conversation, Buzhardt said Thompson was "willing to go, you know, pretty much the distance now. And he said he realized his responsibility was going to have be as a Republican increasingly."

[...]

When Dean began testifying on June 25, he implicated Nixon in the break-in and cover-up. But his testimony had little legal impact because it was his word against the president's.

The existence of the recording system in the Oval Office solved that problem and it's public revelation eventually forced the Nixon White House to turn over the tapes. With 5 1/2 minutes of silence and 13 minutes of buzzing.

Appropriate action? One might want to press Fred Thompson to determine what he deemed appropriate... at that point in time.