Did President Nixon's Son-in-Law Make Any Calls?

Edward F. Cox is the chairman of the New York Republican State Committee and the son-in-law of the late President Richard M. Nixon. Cox is a lawyer in the Manhattan law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP where he has served as the Chairman of the Corporate Department and a member of the Management Committee. In 2008, Cox was named in Super Lawyers in the area of Securities & Corporate Finance and his firm was ranked third on The American Lawyer’s 2008 "A-List" of leading law firms in the United States.

In 1998 I sent Mr. Cox an unusual letter. I wonder if he made any phone calls about me. The copyee, Mr. Mortenson (Baker Botts, LLP), was President Nixon's lawyer. The "Baker" in Baker and Botts is former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, Esq., a close personal friend of Robert S. Strauss, Esq. Mr. Strauss served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia under Secretary Baker in the George H.W. Bush administration.

July 8, 1998
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW #136
Washington, DC 20008-4530

Edward F. Cox, Esq.
Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
(212) 632-3000

Dear Mr. Cox:

During the period March 1988 to October 1991 I was employed as a legal assistant at the Washington, DC office of the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld ("Akin Gump"). Attorney managers at Akin Gump terminated my employment effective October 29, 1991 upon determining, in consultation with a psychiatrist, that a complaint of harassment I had lodged against several co-workers was attributable to a psychiatric symptom ("ideas of reference") prominent in the psychotic disorders and typically associated with a risk of violent behavior. See Freedman v. D.C. Dept. of Human Rights, D.C. Superior Court no. MPA 95-14 (final order issued June 10, 1996). In the period immediately after my job termination senior Akin Gump managers determined that it was advisable to secure the office of my direct supervisor against a possible homicidal assault, which it was feared I might commit.

I have been under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service as a potential security risk to President William J. Clinton, and was interrogated at the Washington Field Office by Special Agent Philip C. Leadroot as recently as February 1996 on a referral by high-ranking attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice.

I have also been under investigation by the Federal Protective Service (Jerry McGill, S.A.) incident to concerns, affirmed as genuine in 1996 by then District of Columbia Corporation Counsel--now White House Counsel to President Clinton--Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., that I posed a risk of violence, including armed violence or homicide, at the law firm of Akin Gump.

Pursuant to the investigation instituted by the Federal Protective Service ("FPS") I forwarded a document to the FPS, under cover letter dated September 8, 1997 (copy attached), that contains references to former President Richard M. Nixon, your father-in-law, as well as references to the Central Intelligence Agency. The document is titled "Significant Moments."

I request that you disclose to the Washington Field Office of the U.S. Secret Service (Phillip C. Leadroot, S.A., telephone no. 202 435 5100) whether you have at any time been made aware, by any source, of the existence of this document. I enclose a copy of the first page of the document to refresh your recollection. I know that you will appreciate the serious nature of any concerns relating to presidential security and that any disclosure you make to the U.S. Secret Service will be full, candid, and truthful.

Background facts that prompt this inquiry are the following:

-- You are the son-in-law of former President Richard M. Nixon;

-- Donovan Leisure of counsel William E. Colby, Esq. (now deceased) was Director of the CIA during the administration of President Nixon;

-- Former President George Bush was Director of the CIA during the administration of President Nixon and is a close friend of Akin Gump partner, Robert S. Strauss, Esq.;

-- Akin Gump partner Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. was President Clinton's personal representative at the funeral of Mrs. Nixon, your mother-in-law, in 1993; and

-- A member of your law school class, Edwin Rutan, Esq. (Harvard Law School, 1972), is the older brother of an old friend of mine.

Sincerely,

Gary Freedman

cc: R. Stan Mortenson, Esq.