THE ANNOUNCEMENT yesterday by Mr. Hushen concerning study of the entire matter of Presidential clemency and pardons was prompted by inquiries to the White House Press Office concerning Mrs. John Dean's reported statement in reference to pardoning of her husband and similar public statements on behalf of others.
Such a study is, of course, made for any request concerning pardon of an individual.
However, no inference should be drawn as to the outcome of such study in any case. Nor is my pardon of the former President, under the unique circumstances stated by me in granting it, related to any other case which is or may be under study.
Note: The statement was read by Senator Hugh Scott at the White House at a news briefing by Senator Scott and Representative John J. Rhodes following the President's first meeting with the Republican Congressional leadership.
The statement refers to Deputy Press Secretary John W. Hushen's answer to a reporter's question at his news conference at the White House on September 10, 1974. The exchange follows:
"Q. Mrs. Dean is now talking about a pardon for John Dean; what is the President's feeling about pardon for any of the other people involved in the whole Watergate thing?
"MR. HUSHEN. I am authorized to say that that entire matter is now under study."
Gerald R. Ford, Statement on Presidential Clemency and Pardons. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/256552