All language subtitles for WATERGATE S01E02 LQ

- Five people have been
arrested and charged

with breaking into
the headquarters

of the Democratic
National Committee

in the middle of the night.

- Police confiscated extensive
photographic and electronic

eavesdropping gear.

- I want it implemented
on a thievery basis.

Goddammit, get in
and get those files.

We are going to use any means.

male narrator: Within a week
after the Watergate arrests,

Woodward and Bernstein already
realized that Watergate

was no ordinary burglary,
and they started digging.

- We couldn't find
out who worked

for the re-election committee.

It was like,
uh, top secret.

Really you knew
John Mitchell

was the chairman,
you knew a couple other names,

but beyond that
you couldn't find out.

- Carl got the, uh, list
of people who worked there,

and we couldn't call them
at their offices.

- We started visitingth,

in their homes.

- Bob and I were good friends.

I know how hard
he worked on it.

He worked on it all the time.

He--He worked on it at night.
He knocked on doors at night.

It was 24/7 for
both Carl and Bob,

and he kept telling
me over and over,

"Do not let them take
this story away from you.

Hold onto this story."

Nine days after
the Watergate arrests,

White House Chief of Staff
Bob Haldeman was nervous

about whether
the cover-up would hold,

particularly
for John Mitchell.

But Nixon was truly loyal
to Mitchell,

and refused to make
him the fall guy.

- So Mitchell pulls out.

So he's still the former
Attorney General

and the former
campaign manager.

They're not gonna let up
on him just because

he isn't the manager now.

The only way you can do that is
to hang him on it and say,

"Well, yeah, he did it.

That's why we have
to get rid of him."

- I can't do that to him.
I'd rather shit.

Lose the election.

- You can't do that.

He won't let you do that.
He'll pull the plug on himself.

- No, no.

He was supposed to do
everything he could

to find out what was going on.

- Apparently with our
limited resources,

they use the same people
for a wide range of things.

So you got cross ties.

If these guys were
only on this thing,

you could cut them loose and
sink them without a trace.

Tying these people
to those and this,

that is a problem because
it shows they were political.

- Yeah.

You're right.

- John Mitchell resigned
today as the head

of President Nixon's
re-election campaign committee.

- Some Democrats maintain
that the burglary

of their headquarters carried
out by, among others,

a member of Mitchell's staff
may have been a factor.

Most White House
and CREEP officials

went along
with the cover-up,

and just to make sure,
whenever they were questioned

by the FBI, a White House
lawyer would be watching.

- I was assigned to
interview Jeb Magruder.

This was at the White House,

the White House attorney
in back of me,

and started interviewing him.

"No, I don't have any
information.

I don't know anything
about this."

And then he starts
dribbling out some stuff.

I'm taking notes,
and all of the sudden,

I felt something in back of me.

Here was the
White House lawyer.

He's going like this,
looking at my notes.

I said, "Well, Mr. Magruder,
if you don't tell me now

"what your involvement was
or is in this case,

you're gonna have to
tell the Grand Jury."

I said,
"Save yourself the trip."

But he wouldn't do it.

- You could tell
that he was lying?

- Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.

- Mr. Magruder took me
to lunch and, uh, said,

"You know, the amount of money
we authorized for Gordon Liddy

"is a problem.

"We can't tell people
that it was that much.

So you and I need to tell
them a different number."

And, uh, I was a
little shocked by this,

so I said, "Well, Jeb,
I have no intention

of perjuring myself."

And he said,
"You may have to."

But Hugh Sloan
was an honest man,

and when CREEP
pressured him to lie,

he resigned instead.

And soon afterwards, Woodward
and Bernstein found him.

- A lot of doors were
slammed in our faces,

but very quickly I found
myself on the doorstep

of the person called
The Bookkeeper.

It turned out that The
Bookkeeper was the assistant

to the treasurer of the
Committee for the Re-Election

of the President--
a man named Hugh Sloan.

- They were young guys
just starting out,

and they made the appeal,

"Okay, you can't talk
to us publicly,

"but let's talk about--
can't you help us understand

how a campaign works?
Can't we talk on background?"

Um, uh, that type of approach.
And they were quite good at it.

- He started, uh, explaining
that there were these large

disbursements to people
like Gordon Liddy

and that there was this secret
cash fund and there were

five people who
had control of it.

It turned out that John
Mitchell was one of the people

who could authorize
disbursements of that fund.

- The Watergate bugging had
been funded with knowledge

of the campaign manager
while he was

the chief law enforcement
officer of the country.

I had a number for Mitchell.

And I got him on the phone
and I said,

"Mr. Mitchell, there's a story
in tomorrow's paper

"I wanna read to you what
Bob Woodward and myself

have written and
get your response."

And I got as far
as, "John N. Mitchell,

"while Attorney General
of the United States,

had controlled a secret fund."

And Mr. Mitchell said,
"Jeessuuss." Just like that.

Got to the end
of the first paragraph,

and Mitchell said,
"Jesus Christ,

"all that crap, you're
putting it in the paper?

"It's already been denied.

"If you print that,
Katie Graham's gonna

get her tit caught in
a big fat wringer."

And there was a pause,
and then he said,

"And when this
campaign is over,

we're gonna do a little
story on you two boys."

And he hung the phone up.

Now, I can tell you
that to this day,

it's the most chilling moment
I think I've ever had

as a reporter
because he meant it.

But Bernstein
didn't back off,

and crucially,
neither did Ben Bradlee,

"The Washington Post's"
editor,

or Katharine Graham, the
"Post's" owner and publisher.

- So I called
Ben Bradlee up

after this conversation
with Mitchell,

and I told him what
Mitchell had said.

And Bradlee said,
"He really said that?

Do you have good notes?"
And I said, "Yeah."

I read him back my notes.

And he said,
"Put it all in the paper,

but leave her tit out."

And that's exactly
what Bernstein did.

- The next morning Mrs. Graham
came down at my desk and said,

"Carl, do you have any
more messages for me?"

Woodward, Bernstein,
and the "Post" kept pushing,

seemingly without
interference,

but unknown to them,
Nixon and the White House

were already plotting
to cripple them.

- What are you gonna do
about "The Washington Post"?

- Well, we can't do a thing
before the election.

The White House has
gotta do something.

What do you think?
- Well, you buy the stock.

- Well, she's got two
classes of stock.

70% of the voting powers
are in stock she alone holds.

- Can't you screw her
on a television license?

- Oh, yes.
- How?

- Just not renew it.

It has to come up for
renewal every three years.

- How do we--
How do we do that?

- You put a group together
as a way to get at her.

Nixon's new Attorney
General Richard Kleindienst

made sure that the FBI
and the prosecutors limited

their investigation to the
burglars, Hunt, and Liddy.

Kleindienst and his deputy,
Henry Petersen,

also told the White House

everything the
investigators did.

- It's Henry Petersen,

the head of the
criminal division,

who's right on top
of the investigation

and filling me in with
everything that's happening

in the investigation--not only
FBI but the Grand Jury.

- Seven people were indicted
today, the five who were

caught by the police along
with two others,

G. Gordon Liddy
and E. Howard Hunt,

a former consultant
for the White House.

- It was likewise the most
thorough comprehensive

Grand Jury presentation
that has ever been made.

There was no stone that
was left unturned.

There was no lead
or possible witness

that wasn't followed up.

- Sources here at the
Justice Department say

the investigation by both the
FBI and the Grand Jury is over.

There is no evidence,
they insist,

that anyone else was involved.

- Later that day,
Nixon summoned John Dean

to the Oval Office.

The 1972 election
was still 54 days away,

but Nixon was pleased
with the cover-up.

In fact, he was already
planning more attacks

on enemies including
"The Washington Post"

and its attorney,
Edward Bennett Williams.

- Three months ago
I would have had difficulty

predicting where
we'd be today.

I think I can say that 54 days
from now that not a thing

will come crashing down.

- Well, the whole thing
is a can of worms.

A lot of this stuff went on,
but the way you've handled it.

Seems to me has
been very skillful.

Putting your fingers
in the dikes

every time that leaks
have sprung.

Don't worry.

I wouldn't wanna be on
the other side right now.

I wouldn't wanna be in Edward
Bennett Williams' position

after this election.

- No, no.

- Because afterwards,
that's the guy.

- We're going after him.
- That's the guy we gotta ruin.

- He's an attorney for
"The Washington Post."

I think we're gonna fix
this son of a bitch.

We've got to.
- Absolutely.

Well, along that line,

one of the things I've
tried to do is keep notes

on people who are
less than our friends.

- I want the most comprehensive
notes on all of those

that have tried to do us in.

We haven't used the power
in the first four years.

We haven't used the Bureau.

We haven't used
the Justice Department.

But things are
gonna change now.

- That's an exciting prospect.

- Nixon administration
officials

would take reporters
aside and say,

"I hope you're not buying
this Watergate bullshit.

You know, the 'Post' is way
out on a limb here."

- I don't respect the type
of journalism,

the shabby journalism
that is being practiced

by "The Washington Post."

- At CBS News,
in the beginning,

alone among the television
networks, took the attitude,

we should take it to air
with full credit and say,

"In today's news,
worth noting

'The Washington Post' is
reporting thus and such."

There were back-channel calls
to William S. Paley

who basically owned
the company,

was a Republican,
had been a big Nixon supporter,

pressure on him to shut
these news guys up.

And to his everlasting credit,
for the most part,

he stonewalled them.

- The White House--I believe
it was Charles Colson--

called Paley and squeezed
Mr. Paley, who turned around

and squeezed the news division.

Now, it was pretty bold
and, uh, courageous of

the then-President of CBS News
to stand up to Mr. Paley.

- The pressure was on.

High White House officials
came to, one case,

the Bureau Chief,
and another case,

to the head of
the news division,

suggesting that I be
relieved as White House

Chief Correspondent.

In fact John Ehrlichman
once said

to the President
of the News Division,

"Maybe you could send this
guy Rather back to Texas."

- They targeted Dan.
Dan became the bête noire.

One of the--there's--
Nixon had an enemies list,

and then there was Dan Rather.

He was Enemy Number One.

I think one of the reasons
that I admire Dan so much

is that I did know he was
coming under pressure,

and he stood up to it.

He didn't withdraw.

He didn't change
what he wanted to say

night after night
on the White House lawn.

- I can remember coming home
to my wife and I told her,

"You know, it's one of those
times in life professionally

"both CBS News and we--

"our little selves here,
our family--

we've got everything
on the line."

If any or all of what is
alleged to have been going on

is true, how high up in
the White House does it go?

And is the President
himself involved?

On September 28, 1972,

Carl Bernstein got
a phone call that led him

to a lawyer and low-level
government official

named Donald Segretti.

- I was in the office.

I get this call from somebody
who says he has a friend

who had been approached
in a rather strange way

to go to work for the Nixon
Re-election Committee

to try and maybe do
some dirty tricks.

And I was given the guy's
name, which was Alex Shipley.

And he told me this story
of how he and others

had been approached by a guy
named Donald Segretti,

who said he was working on
behalf of the Nixon campaign

to try to sabotage
campaign events.

We have this name Segretti.

We got his credit card records
and his telephone records and--

- How'd you do that?

Uh, I--I had a source
at the telephone company

and, uh--and, uh--
I can't remember how.

Maybe Bob got the
American Express records.

Maybe I did.
I can't remember.

- That couldn't
happen these days.

- It'd be pretty tough.

I don't know,
maybe yes, maybe no.

- Segretti flew cross-country
to more than 17 states

setting up a nationwide network
of spies and saboteurs.

He recruited
more than 50 operatives

who helped him
pull his pranks,

some benign, others
clear violations of law.

- Reports by "The Washington
Post" and "Time Magazine"

name the President's
appointment secretary

Dwight Chapin as a contact man
for the operation.

The other named by the "Post"
is Herbert Kalmbach,

the President's
personal lawyer.

- What's the situation
on Segretti?

- Segretti, just so you know,
is incommunicado.

But he calls John Dean
from a public phone

and calls on to a line
that's not traceable

every day around noon.

Well, this is why
we got the man we got.

We get him paid outside,
get him completely away

from the place.

- I just think we gotta
brazen it through.

Meanwhile, Kalmbach,
what's he have to say?

- Kalmbach doesn't have
to say a goddamn thing.

- I know that.

It's a question whether...

If the lawyer for the President
is involved in putting up

the money,
that's a bad story.

- Right.

- Has anybody talked to
Segretti--Don Segretti--

to find out whether such
an espionage squad existed?

- Well, uh,
I really don't know.

- In the Justice Department?
- As far as I--

- Don't you think--
Should they?

- Well, I don't know
if they should or not.

When Woodward and
Bernstein dug into Segretti's

dirty tricks operation,
they quickly realized

that it was just one part
of something much larger.

- Finally Watergate
made sense,

that this break-in was not
an isolated incident,

but it was part of a vast
campaign of political espionage

and sabotage to undermine
the Democrats

and the election itself.

- This was an effort to say,
"We're gonna pick who Nixon

runs against to make
sure he wins."

- It worked.

I think people who worked
in the campaign will tell you

that it worked.

Nixon's efforts
to sabotage the election

had started
a year earlier.

First Colson, Dean, Haldeman,
and others created lists

of opponents and discussed
how to attack them.

For example in this 1971
memo by John Dean.

Then Nixon, thinking ahead
to the election,

started to focus on potential
Democratic opponents,

especially the Democratic
frontrunner,

Maine senator
Edmund Muskie.

- John, we have the power,
but are we using it

to investigate, you know,
contributors to, uh,

Humphrey, Muskie,
the Jews who are stealing?

- I don't know.

- We have a new man
over there.

- You mean at IRS?
- Yeah.

In tax returns.

Are we looking into
Muskie's return?

- No, we haven't.

- Teddy Kennedy?
The Kennedys?

Shouldn't they
be investigated?

- IRS-wise, I don't know.

Teddy, we are covering
personally.

- And what about Muskie?

This wasn't just
another one of Nixon's rants.

Again and again over
the following months,

Nixon pressured his staff
to attack the Democrats.

- Now, here's the point.

Bob...

Please get me the
names of the Jews.

Big Jewish contributors
to the Democrats.

Could we please investigate
some of the cocksuckers?

The IRS is going
after Billy Graham.

I just don't know whether
we're being as rough.

- I've often been asked
what it feels like

to be the frontrunner.

Well, the one sensation
that I feel most of all

almost every day is a twitching
between my shoulder blades.

Because I know I'm the target.

Muskie had no idea
how right he was.

By early 1972,
the White House,

CREEP, and Donald Segretti
were mounting numerous

and increasingly serious
covert operations against him.

- They had Muskie's chauffeur
on the payroll.

One of his jobs was to take
documents from Muskie's

Senate office to Muskie's
campaign headquarters.

The chauffeur was paid
by the Nixon campaign

to make copies
of those documents,

and so the Nixon campaign
had total transparency

of what Muskie was doing.

Strategy memos, the schedule,
copies of everything.

Newspapers started
publishing stories

that attacked his wife.

I think they rattled Muskie.

Uh, one of the operations
was this Canuck letter.

Since
his earliest campaigns,

Nixon had used smear tactics.

But in 1972, he also used
what we now call fake news,

and he used it very
effectively.

- Democratic Senator
Edmund Muskie today denounced

William Loeb,
the conservative publisher

of the Manchester
"New Hampshire Union Leader,"

as a liar and a gutless coward.

What infuriated Muskie was
Loeb's publication yesterday

of a letter from a man in
Florida who claimed he had

overheard Muskie laugh at the
use of the word "Canuck,"

a reference to Americans
of French descent.

Both the attacks
on Muskie's wife

and the Canuck letter
were fake,

but their effects
were very real.

- First to say to Mr. Loeb,

who's the publisher
of this paper,

that he has lied about me.

By attacking me,
by attacking my wife,

he has proved himself
to be a gutless coward.

- Talking more about
the incident,

he suddenly became
emotional and found it

difficult to continue.

- Maybe I said all
I should on it.

It's fortunate for him he's not
on this platform beside me.

A good woman...

- He got very emotional
and he cried.

And a lot of people thought
that that was pivotal

in the downfall of Muskie.

- Muskie had a
psychological collapse.

- On television we
watched Edmund Muskie

choking back tears.

Emotional display
carries a connotation

of incomplete self-control.

Not a good impression

for a potential
chief executive to create.

Muskie was forced to
drop out of the race in April.

And in July the Democrats
nominated liberal senator

George McGovern as their
candidate to oppose Nixon.

- The senator from South Dakota
and the next President

of the United States,
George McGovern.

- One of Nixon's key aides,
Pat Buchanan,

thought it was just great
they got George McGovern

to run against, who was much
more, uh, left wing.

- I was doing then at Nixon's
request the in-depth analysis

of his potential
adversaries in '72,

foremost among which
was Muskie,

and I'd already done
the analysis of Muskie.

And I didn't do McGovern
because I said in a memo,

uh, "We have not been--
lived so good a life

"that divine providence is
gonna reward us

with George McGovern
as an opponent."

But divine providence

had nothing to do with it,

and the White House
didn't stop,

even after they had knocked
Muskie out of the race.

- George McGovern replaced
Muskie as the likely

Presidential candidate.

They attempted to break into
McGovern headquarters

several times and--to bug
McGovern headquarters,

and failed there as well.

- This is a story that I think
is not yet well known

in many parts of the country.

But the evidence is very strong
that at least 50 people

and perhaps more than that
have been hired to do some

of the shabbiest undercover
operations in the history

of American politics.

- And I remember the thing
that surprised me most

was all of this important
information was coming out

and it seemed to have
no impact on the public.

This was no accident.

For years, Nixon had been
preparing a brilliant strategy

that combined
election year politics

and global diplomacy.

It succeeded and it also
totally overwhelmed

media coverage of Watergate.

Ironically, some of Nixon's
motives and goals

were deeply idealistic.

- We're in a situation
at the present time.

It will be the last time
the United States

can create conditions
which can lead to peace

for perhaps 25 years.

The problem we have with
the Russians and the Chinese,

they believe in one thing,
we believe in another.

But if you start talks
with that in mind,

there is a chance you can find
areas where you live

and let live.

The only thing I would give
to the other side

is that any man,
no matter how savage,

probably does think
of young people.

The kids.

And they know as
we know, that in war,

it would be mass
incineration.

But however
noble his goals,

Nixon's strategy and timing
were ruthlessly political,

with every major action
planned for the election year.

Step one, in February 1972,
the opening to communist China

complete with panda bears,
table tennis matches,

and state visits.

- First American President
ever to do so

steps onto Chinese soil.

- Once Nixon opened
dialogue with China,

he moved to step two:

using his new relationship
with China as leverage

to get a nuclear weapons
treaty with the Soviet Union.

- These agreements mean a first
step in reducing the danger

of war in the world

and increasing
the chances of peace.

But the crown jewel

of Nixon's strategy
was Vietnam.

Nixon intensified the bombing
of Vietnam so he could

start withdrawing troops,
timed perfectly

for the 1972 election.

- The President has decided
to continue our withdrawal

program to an authorized
level of 27,000

by December 1st, 1972.

The troop
withdrawals reduced

not only U.S. casualties
but also draft levels,

enabling Nixon to announce
an end to the draft.

This was enormously popular
with 18- and 19-year-olds

reaching draft age,
so Nixon also announced

that he would lower the
voting age from 21 to 18.

- President Nixon is making
a strong bid for the support

of the 11 million young voters
who will be casting

their first ballots
in November.

The final touch would be

a Vietnam peace agreement.

Nixon and Kissinger needed to
time it so that the agreement

would be announced
before the election,

but that South Vietnam
wouldn't collapse until after.

So that the doves couldn't
accuse them of having

prolonged the war for nothing.

- The real question is whether
we settle at a cost

of destroying
the South Vietnamese.

The advantage to settle
now is you ensure

a hell of a landslide.

You'd have a mandate.

- The question is,
how can we maneuver so it will

look like a settlement
by election day?

If we can get that,
then we can screw them

after election day
if necessary.

And this...

This I think could finish
the destruction of McGovern.

- Oh, yes.

I'm just not sure the South
can survive in any event.

The Northerners
have more stamina.

How the hell they've
taken what they have,

I don't know.

- The doves should not be able
to say in October that what you

did they would have done in '69
and saved 20,000 lives.

- Yeah.

Nixon's strategy worked.

The North Vietnamese
went along

with Kissinger's proposal,
betting correctly that once

the Americans were gone,
the North Vietnamese

and Viet Cong could
easily conquer South Vietnam.

And so just ten days before
the 1972 election,

Henry Kissinger called a press
conference that guaranteed

Nixon's landslide victory.

- We believe that
peace is at hand.

We believe that by far
the longest part of the road

has been traversed.

Two years after
America's withdrawal,

South Vietnam collapsed.

But in 1972, the agreement
made Nixon unbeatable.

Nothing else mattered.
Certainly not Watergate.

- The President leads McGovern
by 26 points in the Gallup.

- President Nixon is well
on the way toward the predicted

landslide re-election.

- Well, in Washington,
President Nixon's number one

domestic affairs advisor
is John Ehrlichman,

and David Schoumacher
is with him now.

- Uh, Howard,
he feels too good.

I'm gonna ask him whatever
happened to Watergate.

- I don't know. I don't know.

Apparently nothing.

But while the cover-up

had temporarily
kept the lid on,

Watergate just
wouldn't go away.

There had already been
rumors of payoffs

to the Watergate burglars and
suddenly they weren't just

rumors anymore.

- On the 8th of December,
this plane crashed

near Chicago's
Midway Airport.

One of those who died
in the crash was the wife

of E. Howard Hunt.

In Mrs. Hunt's purse,
100 hundred dollar bills

were found and there has been
subsequent testimony

that the cash may have
been hush money

supplied by the Committee
to Reelect the President.

- Do they have any reading
yet on the traceability

of the $10,000?
- Uh, no.

Uh, Dean spent most
of the weekend on that.

Uh, the bills are still in the
hands of the Chicago police

to be turned over
to Hunt today,

so until then John
doesn't know whether

it's traceable money or not.

He doesn't think it is.

- If something could
just be said.

- The problem
is exactly that.

Uh, if you reopen it,
you raise more questions

than you answer and you
bring the thing back up

to public attention.

The thing that bothers me is
Segretti and the other stuff

like that tends
to be tied to Watergate.

- Well, let's face it.

We all know who should
have handled this.

Goddammit, it was Mitchell.

And he wasn't handling it.

- Now, there is
a way to do this,

and that is to dump Mitchell
on this thing and say, uh--

- I dump him, it would
kill him financially.

Mitchell has a serious
problem with his wife.

He was unable to
watch the campaign,

and as a result,
the underlings did things

without his knowledge.

- And that really
dumps on Magruder.

- The minute you
dump on Mitchell

by saying he didn't
watch the underlings,

the underlings are gonna
produce their diaries

and show that Mitchell was
in 18 meetings where this was

discussed, approved,
authorized, financed.

Still tense
about Watergate

but also emboldened
by Nixon's re-election,

the White House intensified

its pressure on
"The Washington Post."

- Right after the election,
the pressure got very,

very tough.

The real threat was the
challenge to our television

station licenses which were
up for renewal in Florida.

Almost all of them were

obviously
politically motivated

mostly by Committee to
Reelect the President people.

- "A group headed by President
Nixon's Florida fundraiser

"announced Tuesday that it will
file a rival application

"for the license of the
television station WJXT,

now held by a syndicate of
the Washington Post Company."

- Isn't that too bad?

- "Post" will spend a fortune.

- The only thing that was
unfortunate on Watergate

was Segretti.

Haldeman slipped there.

That kind of operation
should be on the outside.

- But despite
enormous pressure,

Katharine Graham and
"The Washington Post"

didn't bend an inch.

- I was in the news room and
I got a call from the guard

down on 15th Street that there
was a guy with a subpoena

for me, Woodward, our notes.

And, uh, should he
let him upstairs?

And I said, "No,
keep him down there."

And I called Ben Bradlee,
the editor.

Bradlee said,
"Give me a minute

and I'll call you
right back."

Called back about five
minutes later and he said,

+"All right, first you
get out of the office

for the afternoon."

And I talked to Katharine
and she says,

"They're not your notes.
They're her notes."

And if anybody's
gonna go to jail,

it's gonna be her.

I still--I get choked up
talking about it.

Um...

Nixon faced
two looming threats.

His first problem
was the Senate,

which was still under
Democratic control

despite Nixon's
landslide victory.

- The Senate tonight
voted 77 to nothing

to establish a select
committee to investigate

alleged political espionage in
last year's election campaign.

That includes the Watergate
bugging case.

The committee will be headed
by North Carolina Democrat

Sam Ervin.

The second
problem Nixon faced

was the burglars trial.

- And now the criminal
trial begins

in the rarely-used
ceremonial courtroom,

the biggest available.

- At least temporarily,
the burglars were under

control through payoffs,

and the prosecutors were
controlled by Kleindienst

and the White House.

But there was one
man at the trial

who wasn't under control:
the judge.

Judge John J. Sirica was
a conservative Republican

and a Nixon supporter, but
he also believed in the law

and he was about to
become a big problem.

- Judge Sirica, boy,
he was something.

I think he was
a stunningly honest man.

And he was outraged.
This isn't right.

This isn't the way
things are done.

They've crossed a line.

- I remember talking
to Judge Sirica.

We chatted off the record
and he said,

"You know, I've got this
courtroom case where

"the U.S. Attorney says
Gordon Liddy is the mastermind,

"and I have subscription to
'The Washington Post,'

"and I've read all of these
stories saying Magruder,

"Mitchell, Haldeman,
Ehrlichman,

White House involvement
and so forth."

He said, "The disconnect
is so great."

- The Justice Department,
through Petersen

and the prosecutors,
became part of the cover-up.

They had a fair amount
of the same information

that we were uncovering.

We didn't know that
at the time.

But they were ordered
to only prosecute

the Watergate
burglary itself.

They had the information
on Segretti.

We didn't even know it
at the time, that they did.

Finally at some point in there
we went to them and said,

"Do you know this?"

"Oh, yeah.
We know all about that."

a federal judge today made
clear that he believes

the whole truth did
not emerge in the trial

the Watergate case.

- Sirica disclosed he's given
prosecutor Earl Silbert

a secret list of persons,
some of them never questioned,

who should be called
before the Grand Jury.

Silbert later indicated
to CBS News the prosecution

is not planning to renew
its investigation.

After the burglars
were found guilty,

Sirica threatened them with
long prison sentences

unless they agreed to talk.

This gravely endangered
the cover-up,

as Nixon immediately
realized.

- A minute on Watergate.

What the hell
is the strategy now?

The judge,
his conduct is shocking.

What's he bucking for? An
appointment with the Democrats?

- No, no, Sirica is,
uh--is a tough,

hardboiled law-and-order judge.

I know him pretty well.

The only thing I can figure
is this case just got under

his craw for some reason.

- After the election,
Nixon learns that Haldeman

and Ehrlichman know everything
they know basically through me,

so Nixon tells Ehrlichman,
"I'm gonna have Dean

report directly to me
on Watergate."

- A 35-year sentence?
There were no weapons, right?

No injuries?
That's just ridiculous.

One of these blacks holds up
a store with a goddamn gun,

they give him two years.

Probation after six months.

- And they
let him out on bond.

Hunt made the bond.
Everybody else is in jail.

- What the hell do they expect?

They expect clemency
within a reasonable time?

- I think they do.

- And what would you
advise on that?

- It's one of those
things we'll have

to watch very closely.

- You couldn't do it,
say, in six months?

- No.

This may become so political.
- Jesus Christ.

The main thing is the isolation
of the President from this.

- Absolutely.

- Because that fortunately
is totally true.

- I know that, sir.

- But the committee is
after the White House.

Haldeman or Colson,
Ehrlichman.

- Or possibly Dean.

John Dean
was right to be worried

because the cover-up
was starting to fall apart.

The first to name Dean
publicly was L. Patrick Gray,

who was forced to testify
in the Senate to be confirmed

as permanent director
of the FBI.

- Gray has revealed that when
the FBI was investigating

the Watergate bugging case,
a White House lawyer,

John Dean, sat in
on all questioning

of White House officials.

- Kennedy, "Did Gray object
to Dean's presence?"

Gray, "He couldn't
remember for sure,

"but he would have
preferred not to have

the President's
counsel there."

- Byrd recalling that Gray
testified that FBI agents

asked White House counsel
John Dean if Watergate suspect

E. Howard Hunt had an office
in the White House,

and that Dean said he would
have to check whether or not

Mr. Hunt had an office there
and would ascertain that.

Byrd asked, "When was that?"
Replied Gray, "June 22nd."

But that, Byrd pointed out,
was three days after Dean

had had material from
Hunt's office moved

to his own office.

Said Byrd, "He lied to
the agent, didn't he?"

Gray, "I would have to say
looking back on it now,

I would have to conclude that
that probably is correct."

Byrd, "Yet on yesterday,
you said you would continue

to send files to Dean
if he requests them."

Gray, "You have got to realize
I am the head of a bureau

"in the executive branch
of government.

I've got to take orders
from somebody."

- That element of ubiquity
about Mr. John Dean,

he's everywhere at all
times in connection

to this Watergate
investigation.

- Dean's involvement with
the FBI inquiry has added

to Democratic suspicions that
Gray was put under White House

pressure in the Watergate
investigation.

They want to call
the President's counsel

as a witness.

Even one Republican agreed
today this may be necessary

to assure Gray's
confirmation.

- The White House has
already said that Dean

will not testify.

But the Senate threatened

not to confirm Gray unless

the newly-formed Senate
Watergate Committee

was allowed
to question Dean

and other White House
officials.

- If the Gray nomination
depends on a satisfactory

outcome of the Watergate
investigation.

Uh, that in turn presumably
depends on various White House

staff people appearing before
your Select Committee

on the Watergate.

The White House says
they won't come.

What are you gonna do?

- I'd recommend to the Senate
to send the sergeant-at-arms

of the Senate to arrest
the White House aide

or any other witness
who refuses to appear.

At the same time,
the Watergate burglars

were starting to crack under
pressure from Judge Sirica,

and they were also starting
to blackmail the White House.

- Mr. Hunt, why did
you plead as you did?

- Mr. Hunt'll have no comment.

- March 19th,
one of the lawyers

from the Re-election Committee
comes directly to my office

and--with a message
the likes of which

I had not received before.

He said, "John, Howard Hunt
has a message for you."

And it was that if he wasn't
given $122,000 yesterday,

for all practical purposes,
he was gonna have some seamy

things to say about what he'd
done for John Ehrlichman.

That was clear a threat about
the Ellsberg break-in.

And I just realize,
this is gonna go on forever.

It's--there's no ending.

If we don't end this cover-up,
uh, it's only gonna get more

complex, not less,
and there's only one person

who can end it,
and that's Richard Nixon.

Another Watergate
burglar, James McCord,

was already talking
to Judge Sirica.

And John Dean knew that
if Hunt and McCord talked,

it would be fatal for
the Nixon White House

and for John Dean.

On March 21,
Dean went to Nixon.

- I think there's no doubt
about the seriousness

of the problem.

We have a cancer within,
close to the presidency.

It's growing daily.
It compounds itself.

It is basically because,
one, we're being blackmailed.

Two, people are going to
start perjuring themselves

very quickly
to protect other people.

And there is no assurance--

- That it won't bust.

- That that won't bust.

So let me give you
the basic facts.

- On June 17th,
I got the word there'd been

this break-in at the
Democratic National Committee.

- You knew who it was.
- I knew who it was.

So I called Liddy.

I said, "I wanna know
how this happened."

He said, "Well, I was
pushed by Magruder."

Magruder's perjured himself.

Liddy said that if they
all got counsel instantly,

"Well, we'll ride this out."

Then they started
making demands.

Attorneys fees.

Uh, "We don't have money and
you're asking us to take this

through the election?"

So arrangements were made
through Mitchell, uh,

initiating it.

I was present.

That these guys had
to be taken care of.

Kalmbach was brought in.
Raised some cash.

That's the most
troublesome thing.

Because Bob is
involved in that.

John is involved in that.
I am involved in that.

Mitchell is
involved in that.

And that is an
obstruction of justice.

- The fact that you're
taking care of witnesses.

- Now, the blackmail
is continuing.

Hunt is demanding another
120-some-thousand dollars.

Wanted it by close
of business yesterday.

Hunt has now made
a direct threat.

Now, the continued
blackmail will go on.

And it will compound
the obstruction

of justice situation.

It'll cost money.
It's dangerous.

People here are
not pros at this.

This is the sort of thing
mafia people can do.

Washing money, we just don't
know about these things.

We're not criminals.
- That's right.

How much money do you need?

- I would say a million dollars
over the next two years.

- We could get that.

You could get
a million dollars,

and you could
get it in cash.

I know where it
could be gotten.

- Uh-huh.

What if it starts breaking
and they find a criminal case

against a Haldeman, a Dean,
a Mitchell, an Ehrlichman?

Some people are gonna
have to go to jail.

- You'll go to jail?
- That's right.

- I can't see how a legal case
can be made against you.

- Obstruction of justice.

- The obstruction
of justice, I feel,

could be cut off
at the pass.

Let us suppose that you
get the million bucks

and get the proper way
to handle it.

It would seem to me
that would be worthwhile.

I was talking to John
about this situation.

We can get the money.

There's no problem in that.

We can't provide the clemency.

If you hunker down and fight,

your view is that's
not a viable option.

- It's a very high risk.

- Well, John's point
is exactly right.

Well, the erosion
now is going to you,

and we've got to figure out
where to turn it off

at the lowest cost we can but
at whatever cost it takes.

- We cannot let
you be tarnished.

- It isn't just Hunt.

It's, uh, Liddy and McCord
and the Cubans.

So Dean finally goes running
to Mitchell and said,

"Uh, I've got to
have some money."

Kalmbach can't do it
anymore and--and shouldn't.

- Dangerous things are...

raising the money.

- You can't have a fundraising
drive and give everybody

certificates and gold pens.

- The obstruction of justice.

- See, I hadn't really
thought of that.

- We're all in it.

I think up to this point,

we had certain choices.

But that's gone.