When Chotiner appeared before the subcommittee on May 2, he testified that he had been retained by the firm when it was seeking to expand to California, that he had conferred with Justice Department attorneys regarding the criminal charges, and that no special favors had been asked or given. Under questioning by subcommittee counsel Robert F. Kennedy, the younger brother of committee member and future president John F. Kennedy, Chotiner also disclosed that he had been retained by New Jersey mobster Marco Regnelli in an attempt to stave off a deportation order. He testified that he never discussed his clients with Nixon, and had not used the Vice President's offices for business purposes. In a press release, Chotiner fired back at Kennedy, suggesting that he had been subpoenaed for political reasons. Denying any influence peddling, Chotiner asked whether the subcommittee counsel could "explain whether any influence was used in connection with his own appointment as attorney for a subcommittee of a committee of which his brother ... is a member." Patrick Murphy Malin, head of the American Civil Liberties Union concurred that requiring Chotiner to testify had "overtones of political harassment." "Time" magazine summed up the hearings, "At week's end two points were clear: 1) Murray Chotiner had been sought out by, and had gone to work for, unsavory clients who obviously regarded him as a man of influence; and 2) on the basis of evidence so far adduced, he had been remarkably unsuccessful in wielding any."