Liddy lashes out at Nixon executive, calls Dean a `serial perjurer'
By Seth Hettena, Associated Press, 01/30/01
BALTIMORE -- Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy sharply criticized former White House counsel John Dean on Tuesday, accusing him of lying repeatedly about his role as the mastermind of the botched break-in that led to President Nixon's resignation.
G. Gordon Liddy, a Watergate conspirator, arrives at Baltimore's federal courthouse today. (AP)
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During his second day of testimony at his defamation trial, Liddy was asked whether he considered assassinating Dean. He said Dean wasn't "worth the 25 cents it would cost to shoot him."
Liddy also repeated his theory that Dean organized the 1972 burglary to retrieve photos of his future wife, Maureen, from a package of call-girl photos used to set up liaisons in nearby apartments for visitors to the Democratic National Committee.
That theory is at the heart of the $5.1 million defamation lawsuit filed against Liddy by Ida Wells, a DNC secretary at the time of the burglary. Liddy has said the photos were kept in Wells' desk.
He testified Tuesday that he did not know how the photos got there and denied ever calling Wells a prostitute or a madam.
"I have said the pictures were kept in a desk at the DNC and the desk was assigned to Maxie Wells," Liddy said. "If it had been assigned to Joan of Arc, I would have said it was Joan of Arc's desk."
Liddy disputed previous testimony by Dean refuting the call-girl allegations, saying: "Sir, as I have said before and I will repeat until my dying day, the man is a serial perjurer."
Liddy has insisted that the break-in was about finding the photos, not about uncovering political secrets for use by the Nixon re-election campaign. Dean has denied organizing the burglary, calling such theories "baloney."
On Tuesday, Liddy said he was told about the photographs long after the break-in by Phillip Mackin Bailley, a disbarred attorney and convicted felon with a history of mental illness.
Bailley testified last week that he doesn't recall significant events in his life from the past three decades and said he was on medication for bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia.
John and Maureen Dean also have denied Liddy's theory, and both sued Liddy and others for libel in 1992. The case against Liddy was dismissed without prejudice last year, meaning it can be refiled.
The Deans also sued St. Martin's Press, publisher of the 1991 book "Silent Coup" that mentions them and the call-girl theory. St. Martin's settled the case for an undisclosed sum.
"It's been extremely hurtful and humiliating to be linked to this imaginary call-girl ring," Maureen Dean told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I know this entire story is based on Phillip Mackin Bailley, who's been in and out of mental institutions his whole adult life. Liddy knew that and didn't care.
"I know he hates my husband but I know on some level he's trying to lessen his culpability and stupidity for the Watergate break-in and to get even with my husband for exposing all of the criminal acts in the Nixon White House," Mrs. Dean said in what she described as her first interview on the subject in 10 years.
Asked about Liddy's attacks on him, John Dean told the AP: "I'd like to testify and I'd love to have the jury see all the evidence that shows the falsity of Gordon Liddy's claim. But this case isn't Liddy vs. John Dean."
Dean was listed as a potential witness but Wells' attorneys decided not to call him to the stand. He said his testimony would have distracted from the case.
"Rest assured," he said, "I'm not going to let Liddy get away with this."
Liddy's testimony was the first he has given about the particulars of the Watergate break-in that led to President Nixon's resignation in 1974. He has appeared in tax court to answer questions about sums of money he received from Nixon's re-election campaign.
Liddy refused to testify during his 1973 trial and received the longest sentence of any of the Watergate conspirators -- more than 20 years. He was released after serving more than four years when President Jimmy Carter commuted his sentence.
Closing arguments were scheduled for Wednesday.
