Here comes the President's helicopter, Marine helicopter number one...
landing in the Plaza on the east side of the east front of the Capitol.
Helicopter hovering gently, just off the ground.
Amazing timing. The President flying all the way across the world...
across the Atlantic Ocean...
arriving almost exactly as scheduled at 9:30...
in the Capitol Plaza...
so that he can go up the steps of the House of Representatives...
go into the chamber, and address the members of the House and the Senate...
the Supreme Court, the diplomatic corps of Washington...
all of whom are inside waiting for him...
in the chamber of the House of Representatives.
Mr. Speaker...
the President of the United States.
And the President, accompanied by the Escort Committee...
comes down the central aisle, approaching the podium...
greets members of his Cabinet...
and those who are waiting to be confirmed as members of his Cabinet...
as he reaches the rostrum.
Shakes hands with the Speaker, Carl Albert...
A happy President, smiling.
Ladies and gentlemen, President Nixon will, in a moment...
address the Congress and the people of the United States.
Thank you.
Car 727. Car 727.
Open door at the Watergate office building.
Possible burglary. See the security guard.
Are you sure you want us?
517 is closer and they're in uniform.
They're getting gas. You take it.
Unit 1 to Unit 2.
- What? - We're home.
Base 1 to Unit 1.
We have some activity here.
Silence is advised.
Shut it off.
Base 1 to Unit 1.
Lights on the eighth floor.
Base 1 to Unit 1.
Is there anybody there?
There's people, people on the balcony. Armed people.
Base 1 to Unit 1.
We may have some problems.
Someone's here.
- Hold it, you... - Police!
Put your hands up!
Drop that jacket!
Walkie-talkie, two 35mm cameras.
Got it. That's good.
All right, stay there.
I already got something for you. Did you see this?
A couple sleeping in bed, car hits the house...
goes through the bedroom, comes out the other side.
Good morning. Crash.
Lewis is over at Democratic headquarters.
One of the burglars had $814.
One $230, one $215, and one $234.
Most of it was in $100 bills and in sequence.
- Woodward? - Yeah?
There's been a break-in at the Democratic headquarters.
- There's been an arrest. - Local Democratic headquarters.
They were bugging the place.
Check the time of arraignment, and get over there.
And, Woodward, it was National Democratic headquarters.
All right.
- Anything else? - Anything else?
Break-in, car crash. That's not bad for a Saturday.
Okay, let me know what happens. Hello, Carl.
Got anything on that couple?
Harry, I know somebody on the staff over at Watergate.
Bernstein, why don't you finish one story before trying to get on another?
I finished it.
- The Virginia Legislature story? - I finished it.
All right, give it to me.
I'm just polishing it. I'll work the phones.
Polishing it? Yeah, you work the phones.
Excuse me, I'm sorry, who are the lawyers for the five men arrested at Watergate?
Do you know?
- Well, these two were assigned to it. - I'm sorry?
These two were appointed to the case.
But only now it turns out the burglars have their own counsel.
- The burglars have their own counsel? - That's right.
That's kind of unusual, wouldn't you say?
For burglars it's unusual.
- You know the name of the counsel? - I don't know. Some country-club type.
You are charged with soliciting prostitution...
at 14th and east street.
And you get as your solicitor, one Perry Woodstock.
Your Honor, Mrs. Hawkin has in the past been a reliable, hardworking parent.
Parents are sworn over. I think $300 would be acceptable...
Excuse me, what is your name?
I'm Bob Woodward of the Washington Post.
- Markham. - Markham.
Mr. Markham, are you here in connection with the Watergate burglary?
I'm not here.
Okay.
Well, clearly, I am here...
but only as an individual, not as the attorney of record.
Who is?
Mr. Starkey.
- Do you have any... - Whatever you want...
you'll have to get it from him. I have nothing more to say.
Starkey. S-T...
Mr. Starkey was very helpful.
Four Cuban Americans and another man, James W. McCord.
Look, I told you inside, I have nothing more to say.
I understand that.
What I don't understand is how you got here.
I assure you there's nothing very mysterious involved.
Well, a little while ago, I was talking to a couple of the lawyers...
assigned to represent the burglars.
So?
They never would have been assigned to represent the burglars...
had anyone known the burglars had arranged for their own counsel.
Only, the burglars couldn't have arranged for their own counsel...
since they never even made a phone call.
So, if no one asked you to be here, why are you here?
I don't want you to take this personally, Mr...
- Woodward. - Woodward.
It'd be a mistake to do that.
I just don't have anything to say.
Did one of the other men involved in the break-in call you?
What reason do you have to assume that there were other people involved?
Well, one of your clients was arrested with a walkie-talkie.
They're not my clients.
Now, I don't want to talk about this anymore.
You're a lawyer and you're here.
One of the defendants, Mr. Barker, and I met at a social occasion once.
- Where? - I have nothing else to say.
A Miami social occasion?
Mr. Starkey says the Cubans were from Miami.
L-62, James McCord.
L-63, Bernard Barker.
L-64, Virgil Gonzales.
L-65, Eugenio Martinez.
L-66, Frank Sturgis.
Please step forward, Attorney Starkey.
All charged with Burglary 2.
- Mr. Starkey, will you represent all five? - Yes, Your Honor.
And are all five gentlemen charged with burglary, second degree?
Yes, Your Honor.
Your names, please, and state your professions.
Bernard Barker, anti-communist.
Anti-communist? That, sir, is not your average profession.
James McCord, security consultant.
Where?
Government. Recently retired.
- Where in the government? - Central Intelligence Agency.
Where?
The CIA.
Sturgis, Frank A., salvage operator.
Holy shit!
Eugenio Martinez, known as Gene Valdez.
James W. McCord, alias Edward Martin.
Frank Sturgis, alias Frank Fiorini.
All five of them had at least one alias.
Is there any proof they were trying to bug the National Democratic Chairman?
It's obvious they were trying to bug O'Brien.
They wouldn't go to all that trouble to bug secretaries.
- There's no proof. - Wait a minute.
I called a lawyer in Miami I know.
He said four of the guys who were arrested were from Miami...
Gonzales, Martinez, Sturgis, and Barker.
Yeah, Barker. And all four of them were involved in CIA activities...
- No, they weren't. - Yeah.
No, only one of them was admitted CIA, and the CIA won't confirm that.
In fact, they deny even knowing McCord.
Yeah, but I just think it's obvious that with all that money and equipment...
they weren't out to work by themselves. Somebody hired them.
I'm not interested in what you think is obvious.
I'm interested in what you know.
What we don't know is why they wanted to bug Democratic Headquarters.
Whether they were working for themselves...
or other individuals or other organizations.
Could be a story, or could just be crazy Cubans.
Bachinski, when you get there tonight, take it easy.
The police are nervous.
Yeah?
Bachinski, calling from Police Headquarters.
A friend just showed me what they found in the hotel rooms...
of the Watergate burglars.
There's something here you might want to look into.
Hang on. Okay, go ahead.
There's a strange entry in two of the burglars'address books.
- Yeah. - One says, "H.H. At W.H."
The other says, "Howard Hunt, W. House."
You can dial the White House direct, can't you?
Yeah.
- What's the number? - 456-1414.
- White House. - Howard Hunt, please.
Mr. Hunt isn't here just now.
He might be in Mr. Colson's office. I'll connect you.
Thank you.
- Charles Colson's office. - Howard Hunt, please.
- Mr. Hunt isn't here just now. - Do you know when he'll be back?
No, I don't.
Okay, thank you.
- Have you tried the Mullen Firm? - I beg your pardon?
He also works as a writer at Mullen & Company Public Relations.
Do you have a phone on that or an address, please?
No, I don't. I'm sorry.
All right, thank you.
Harry?
Who's Charles Colson?
Sit down.
You know, I'm glad you asked me that question.
The reason I'm glad you asked me is because...
if you had asked Simons or Bradlee, they would've said:
"You know we're going to have to fire this schmuck at once because he's so dumb!"
Who is Charles Colson?
The most powerful man in the United States is President Nixon.
You've heard of him?
Charles Colson is Special Counsel to the President.
There's a cartoon on his wall.
Caption reads, "When you've got them by the balls...
"their hearts and minds will follow."
Mullen & Company.
- Howard Hunt, please. - One moment, please.
Howard Hunt here.
Hi, I'm Bob Woodward of the Washington Post.
Yes, what is it?
I was just kind of wondering why your name and phone number...
were in the address books of two of the men arrested at Watergate?
Good God!
Do you care to comment?
In view that the matter is under adjudication, I have no comment.
Hello?
This is Bob Woodward of the Washington Post.
I was told that you had worked with a Mr. Howard Hunt.
Why would anyone say that?
You do know Mr. Hunt?
No, I don't believe so, and I can't imagine why anyone would say that.
Listen, I'm really sorry, but I was on my way out. Goodbye.
Could we just confirm a couple... Bye.
- Did you say the Washington Post? - Yes, that's right, the Post.
Your publishing firm was listed in some papers in connection with a Howard Hunt.
Yeah, he's one of our authors.
He wrote spy novels, I think.
What type of spy novels were they? Were they modern, or were they period...
You say, "wrote"? You mean he's no longer with you anymore?
No, not at this time.
How long has it been since you've heard from him?
A couple of years, I think.
Could you tell me some of the names of the novels that he has written?
- Hello? Is this Mr. Paul Herrera? - ¿Quién?
This is Bob Woodward of the Washington Post.
Bob Woodward of the... Do you speak English?
Momento, momento.
Do any of you guys speak English? Do any of you guys speak Spanish?
- Señor. - Sí.
Never mind. Thank you.
Thank you. Never mind.
- Hello. - Mr. Bennett?
- Yes. - This is Bob Woodward...
of the Washington Post.
Sorry to bother you at home.
I was wondering if you could confirm some information...
on one of your employees, Mr. Howard Hunt?
What kind of information?
It's just profile information mostly.
We know, for example, that he works for Mullen & Company...
or did work for Mullen & Company as a writer. He's also a novelist.
We know that he works in the office of Mr. Charles Colson at the White House.
And the CIA.
If you're conducting that kind of investigation...
then certainly it comes as no surprise to you that Howard was with the CIA.
No, no surprise at all.
Hunt worked for the CIA till 1970.
From '49 to '70. Now, this is on deep background...
but the FBI thinks he's involved with the break-in.
What else you got?
According to White House personnel...
Hunt definitely worked there as a consultant for Colson.
That's Charles Colson, the President's Special Counsel.
Did you call the White House Press Office?
I went over there. I talked to them.
They said Hunt hadn't worked there for three months.
Then a PR guy said this weird thing to me.
He said, "I'm convinced that neither Mr. Colson...
"nor anyone at the White House...
"had any knowledge of or participation in...
"this deplorable incident at the Democratic National Committee."
- Isn't that what you'd expect them to say? - Absolutely.
So?
I never asked about Watergate.
I simply asked what were Hunt's duties at the White House.
They volunteered he was innocent when nobody asked if he was guilty.
Be careful how you write it.
Looks like we've got a White House consultant linked to the bugging.
Harry, this isn't a police story anymore. This is national.
We need a top political writer on it.
Well, they don't want it.
They're all over the goddamned map covering the Primaries.
Besides, this guy has busted his ass.
He's been on this paper for only nine months.
- What's the matter with you? - He's a humper!
What's he been writing about, rat shit in restaurants?
- He's got no experience. - He got a few of them closed, didn't he?
Minor incidents. Small government agencies.
Have Mr. Moffitt come in here, please. And see if Mr. Bradlee's free.
I want Ben to hear this.
Sure Moffitt'll want the story for the National desk...
now that we've built it into something.
Even Bernstein's busting his ass!
I read that cockamamie memorandum he wrote on the break-in.
All right, so some of it was bullshit.
What is the matter with you?
You told me yourself you were going to fire him last month.
Look, he wants on the story bad. They both do!
He knows a lot of people.
Howard, they're hungry!
You remember when you were hungry?
Hello. Can you get me Nigel...
Right away.
- How's it going? - What are you doing?
- Polishing it a little. - What?
- Polishing it. - What's wrong with it?
Nothing. Nothing. It's good.
Then what are you doing with it?
I'm just helping. It's a little fuzzy.
May I have it?
I don't think you're saying what you mean.
I know exactly what I mean.
Not here, I can't tell from this whether...
Hunt works for Colson or Colson works for Hunt.
- May I have it, please? - Some of the conclusions...
- May I have it? - Yes. I'm not looking for a fight.
I'm not looking for a fight, either.
I'm just aware of the fact that you've only been here nine months.
What's that got to do with anything?
I've been in the business since I'm 16.
What are you saying?
I'm trying to tell you that if you'd read mine and then read yours...
- May I read yours? - Yeah.
I walked by, gave yours a glance, it didn't look right...
so I just figured I'd refine it a little.
The first paragraph has to have more clarity...
if the reader's going to understand it.
You don't mention Colson's name till the third paragraph.
I think mine's better. But you go ahead and read it.
If you think yours is better, we'll give yours to the desk.
I've got Colson's name up front.
He's a White House consultant and nobody knows it.
You're right.
Yours is better.
If you're going to do it, do it right. Here are my notes.
If you're going to hype it, hype it with the facts.
I don't mind what you did. I mind the way you did it.
Woodward. Bernstein.
You're both on the story. Now don't fuck it up.
Steuben, what's the name of that girl that you bombed out with...
- that works in Colson's office? - Sharon Lyle.
- Why are you looking at me like that? - You're attractive.
You are very attractive.
You know, my girlfriend told me to watch out for you.
- Who? - I'm not giving any names.
Steuben said you worked for Colson.
Steuben's crazy. I never worked for Colson.
That's what he said.
I worked for an assistant. Colson was really big on secrets, anyway.
Even if I had worked for him, I wouldn't know anything!
Did you know Howard Hunt? Didn't he work in the office?
Yeah, I knew Howard.
- Nice? - He's a nice person.
He's secretive, he is secretive, but a decent man.
Do you have any idea what he did?
The White House said he was doing some investigative work.
What do you say?
- He was doing investigative work. - On what?
- Different things. - Like what?
She warned me.
I'm not going to take my book out. I'm just asking you.
The scuttlebutt for a while was that he was investigating Kennedy.
Go on.
The White House was real paranoid about Teddy Kennedy.
I remember seeing a book about Chappaquiddick on his desk.
And he was always getting material out of the White House Library...
and the Library of Congress, and anything he could find.
White House Library.
Hi, this is Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post...
and I was just wondering if you can remember...
any books that a Howard Hunt checked out on Senator Kennedy?
- Howard Hunt? - Yes, ma'am.
Yes, I think I do remember.
He took out a whole lot of material.
- Why don't you hold on and I'll see? - I sure will. Thank you very much.
- Mr. Bernstein? - Yes, ma'am?
- I was wrong. - I beg your pardon?
The truth is, I don't have a card that says Mr. Hunt took any material.
I don't remember getting material for...
I do remember getting material for somebody, but it wasn't for Mr. Hunt.
All right.
The truth is, I didn't have any requests at all from Mr. Hunt.
The truth is, I don't know any Mr. Hunt.
I was just wondering if you have any books... Hello?
Yes, we're checking that information now.
We'd just like to find out just what it was that Hunt did...
when he worked out as a White House consultant on the Pentagon Papers.
Yes, I'd appreciate that, if you could.
Yes, sir. Thank you.
I just got off the phone with the White House librarian.
You want to look at the notes on it?
This is some stuff from the Eisenhower campaign in 1952...
that Hunt was connected with.
Did you call the White House Communications Office?
No, I just got off the phone with the librarian.
- 524-743. - I know the number.
Between the first and second quote there's a complete contradiction.
It's a space of about five seconds.
- My feeling is... - Was this all...
Mr. Clawson's office.
This is Bob Woodward of the Washington Post.
- Could I talk to Mr. Clawson, please? - One moment, please.
Thank you.
When she came back she said she didn't even know...
- Ken Clawson. - Mr. Clawson, this is Bob Woodward.
Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post had a conversation...
with a White House librarian...
on some books a Mr. Howard Hunt took out on Senator Edward Kennedy.
She first said that Howard Hunt had taken out books on Senator Kennedy...
and then she denied even knowing who he was.
I was wondering if you'd like to comment on this confusion.
Listen, let me call you back on this matter.
- I'm going to check on it for you. - All right, thank you. Bye.
- Call back? - Yes.
- This was all one conversation? - Yeah.
She says first of all, "I think I got a bunch of books on Hunt."
She comes back five seconds later, she says, "I don't even know a Mr. Hunt."
It's obvious someone got to her.
Not enough proof. I mean, if there was just a piece of paper...
that said that Hunt was taking out books on Kennedy and Chappaquiddick.
Like a... I don't know, library slip.
Hunt also took out books from the Library of Congress...
but what's more important is that somebody got to her in that space of time.
- How do you know somebody got to her? - Because she said that Hunt...
There was a lot of books that Hunt checked out.
And then she comes back and she don't even know him.
- Woodward. - Mr. Woodward, Ken Clawson calling back.
- I've just talked with the librarian. - Yes, sir.
She denies that the conversation with Mr. Bernstein ever took place.
She said she referred him to the Press Office.
Excuse me, I'm sorry, you say she denies even knowing...
about the conversation taking place?
That's right. She said someone did call her asking about Mr. Hunt...
but all she did was refer him to the Press Office...
and she denies that...
- any other conversation took place. - Total bullshit.
- I hope that's been of some help to you. - Thank you.
- We've got to get something on paper. - The Library of Congress.
Mona?
Excuse me, Mona, could you take any calls for me, please?
- Sure. - Here's my note.
If I get any calls...
- Will you be back later? - I don't know when.
You want all the material requested by the White House?
All White House transactions are confidential.
Thank you very much, gentlemen.
- We need a sympathetic face. - We're not going to find one here.
You want every request since when?
- When did he start? - July of '71.
I imagine the whole last year.
I'm not sure you want them, but I've got them.
Maybe they pulled the cards.
Maybe they changed the names.
There might have been a card there, and we missed it.
Hey, wait a minute.
I met a White House aide once at a social occasion.
- So? - He might confirm.
- Do we need W.H. In White House? - Not in the second paragraph.
- I don't think we do. Do we? - White House will be enough.
- White House. - Just use White House. Forget the W.H.
I want to know about Colson. What was his job at the White House?
- Special consultant to the President. - I gotta say it.
These notes on the White House librarian, are they accurate?
The White House librarian, the notes, are they accurate?
Yeah, but I wanna hear him say it.
- Okay, let's have it. - Here you are, Ben.
It's a good, solid piece of American journalism...
that the New York Times doesn't have.
You haven't got it.
A librarian and a secretary saying Hunt looked at a book.
That's not good enough.
A White House aide told me that Hunt was investigating Kennedy.
Who was it?
You want the name, you mean?
No, how senior, how high up?
I don't know titles.
"Showed a special interest."
No, we said the White House was investigating Kennedy.
"Showed a special interest in him."
Jesus, the story's stronger than that.
The White House librarian says Hunt checked out a lot of books.
We got a secretary in Colson's office said Hunt was sitting...
All right, Carl. Ben, that's a Page 1 story.
Stick it inside someplace.
This is a goddamn important story.
Get some harder information next time.
Asshole. Bradlee's just sticking up for the Kennedys.
- We didn't have it, that's all. - Bullshit. We had it cold.
- No, we didn't. - Why didn't you say something?
Do you think bitching about it is going to get the story where we want it?
Throw it in the can.
- Yes? - This is Woodward.
I want to talk about Watergate. I know...
We're not going to talk about that subject.
- We talked about Wallace. - But this is different.
That was about the shooting of a man running for President.
- This is different. - How?
Not about this story. Don't call me again.
Good luck, Mr. President.
Taxi.
- Where are you? - Stuck.
The story's stalled on us.
And you thought I'd help?
I'll never quote you.
I wouldn't quote you even as an anonymous source.
You'd be on deep background.
You can trust me. You know that.
Go on.
- Can you tell me what you know? - You tell me what you know.
Hunt worked for Colson at the White House.
Hunt was investigating Kennedy at Chappaquiddick.
That should tell you a lot.
What else?
We're beginning to hear a lot about a lawyer at CREEP named Gordon Liddy...
who's...
Gordon Liddy...
was fired by Mitchell because he wouldn't talk to the FBI.
- You'll hear more. - Will he talk?
I was at a party once, and...
Liddy put his hand over a candle, and he kept it there.
He kept it right in the flame until his flesh was burned.
Somebody said, "What's the trick?" And Liddy said, "The trick is not minding."
The story is dry.
All we've got are pieces.
We can't seem to figure out what the puzzle is supposed to look like.
John Mitchell resigns as the head of CREEP...
and says that he wants to spend more time with his family.
Sounds like bullshit. We don't exactly believe that.
No, but it's touching.
Forget the myths the media's created about the White House.
The truth is, these are not very bright guys...
and things got out of hand.
Hunt's come in from the cold.
Supposedly, he's got a lawyer with $25,000 in a brown paper bag.
Follow the money.
What do you mean? Where?
I can't tell you that.
But you could tell me that.
No, I have to do this my way.
You tell me what you know and I'll confirm.
I'll keep you in the right direction if I can, but that's all.
Just follow the money.
- Goddamn New York Times. - What is it?
Phone calls from burglars in Miami to the Committee to Re-Elect.
Fifteen phone calls.
At least 15 phone calls and those phone calls were made as early as March 15...
which is a full three months before the break-in.
"$89,000 issued in the name of a prominent Mexican lawyer."
$89,000 in Mexican checks?
Why didn't we get this?
Who are their sources?
I even know someone who works at the phone company.
Carl, if John Mitchell wanted your phone records...
you'd be running around yelling invasion of privacy.
Was the New York Times article accurate?
- Yeah, but I can't get you a fuller listing. - Why?
They've subpoenaed all of Bernard Barker's phone records.
I think they're trying to find out if the Watergate burglars broke any Florida law.
- Who subpoenaed them? - Miami DA.
- What's his name? - I don't know his name.
But, the guy who's heading the investigation is named Dardis.
Dardis. What's his first name?
I don't know his first name. I guess you'll have to find that out.
Hi. I'm Carl Bernstein, I have a 9:15 appointment with Mr. Dardis.
Yes, Mr. Bernstein, I'm afraid that Mr. Dardis...
won't be able to see you this morning.
His calendar is really quite full.
There must be a mistake. I made the appointment with him personally.
- I called from Washington. - It should've been made through me.
If you care to wait, I'll see if I can squeeze you in later.
Oh, thanks very much.
I guess it's difficult when he makes his own appointments.
Yes, well, we try to handle it.
It's 4:00, we'll be back in 15 minutes. You want anything?
- Coffee, black. - Coffee, black.
I'm still here.
I'm so glad.
If you could just get me in to see him for five minutes, I'd appreciate it.
- No, Mr. Bernstein. - I have to get back.
We're going to try.
Oh, hi. He's expecting you.
I do have a couple of things to do. I'll be at the Sheraton if you want to reach me.
If he has any space tomorrow, I'd appreciate it. Number's on the back.
- Fine. - Thank you for your patience.
Thank you, Mr. Bernstein. Tomorrow it should be better.
I guess so.
Mr. Dardis' office.
Hi. Please tell Mr. Dardis that Mr. Bernstein has just left.
He'll be available all day tomorrow.
I think we can probably squeeze him in around 4:30.
Yes.
And please tell Mr. Dardis that he doesn't want to be late for his 6:30 appointment.
- Yes, I will. - Thank you.
Mr. Dardis' office.
- This is Mr. Martinson over at the County... - I beg your pardon?
Martinson, over at the County Clerk's office.
There's some records here that Dardis wanted right away.
Could you come and get them? We're closing.
Well, yes, I'll be right over.
Could be easier, too. All right. Hold it.
- What? - Excuse me.
Hi. Can I help you in some way?
I'm Carl Bernstein. I've been waiting since 9:00.
- Would you wait outside? - I've been waiting out since morning.
- Go ahead. Finish your call. - Wait outside, please, will you?
No. I'm the reporter from the Washington Post.
We talked on the telephone yesterday...
and you told me to come on down here and I'm here.
Okay, yeah. I've got the press here. I'm gonna have to call you back.
If you didn't want to see me I don't know why the hell...
you didn't tell me when I was in Washington?
I just wasted a whole goddamned day here. My paper's waiting for a story.
You tell me yesterday to come here. You said I got a 9:30 appointment.
- I've been waiting out here the whole day. - Caught me on the worst day possible.
The man I work for has just started a re-election campaign.
Now, we're gonna have to see each other tomorrow. Okay?
No, sir, I'm facing a deadline and my paper's saving a space for me.
- I just don't have a minute now. - Well, I'm sorry...
Mr. Dardis, I'm really very sorry about this. Mr. Bernstein...
I beg your pardon, ma'am, but this gentleman...
made the appointment with me specifically.
And I think the Washington Post deserves the same courtesy...
as any of the people waiting out there, with all due respect.
I'll buzz you in about five minutes.
The lady takes good care of me.
The fact is we just can't go into it this evening.
It's going to have to wait till tomorrow. Okay?
I just wish you could've told me that before I left...
because I gotta go back to my paper now and write that story...
one way or another, that's all.
Do you want to see Mr. Barker's phone records and his money records?
You told me on the phone if I'd come here you'd show everything you got on Barker.
- That's all I want. - Well, that's what I've got.
Well, that's fine.
Okay, you and I are going to have to have an agreement...
that you're not going to reveal the source of your information.
All these are cashier's checks on a bank in Mexico City.
- All these checks from Mexico? - Sí.
How come? Did the money originate there?
Well, I doubt it started off as pesos.
Wait a minute, what's this one?
What's... Okay, $25,000.
- Who's that? - Kenneth H. Dahlberg.
We haven't been able to ascertain who that is.
Bob, listen, I think I got something. I don't know what it is.
But somewhere in this world there's a Kenneth H. Dahlberg.
And we've got to get to him before the New York Times does.
Because I think they have the same information.
Got a pencil? Write this down. Quick.
Kenneth H. Dahlberg. D-A-H-L-B-E-R-G.
McGovern, who at first had voiced complete support for Eagleton...
has more recently expressed doubts...
and said that Eagleton must make a decision...
whether to stay or leave the ticket.
You're the one that wanted the articles...
- on Dahlberg, Kenneth H. Dahlberg? - Yeah.
Couldn't find anything in the clip file at all.
Oh, wonderful.
I did find one picture though, if it's any help.
Thanks.
Minnesota.
Minneapolis...
I base that conclusion upon my conversations with his doctors...
and my close personal and political association...
- Outside line, please. - Yes.
- Thank you. ...the joint decision...
that we have reached tonight, health would not affect.
But the public debate...
over Senator Eagleton's past medical history...
continues to divert attention from the great national issues...
that need to be discussed.
I have referred to the growing pressures that ask...
for Senator Eagleton's withdrawal.
Hello?
- Could I please... Mr. Dahlberg? - Yes.
- Kenneth Dahlberg? - Yes.
This is Bob Woodward of the Washington Post.
- Yes? - About that $25,000 check...
deposited in the bank account of one of the Watergate burglars...
Mr. Bernard Barker...
As you know, sir, the check has your name on it.
We were doing a story on this...
and I was wondering if you would care to comment or explain?
I turn all my money over to the Committee.
What committee is that, sir? The Committee to Re-Elect?
- Yes. - Why would you do that?
I raise a lot of money. I'm Midwest Finance Chairman.
For the Committee to Re-Elect?
- Hello? - Yes, that's right.
How do you think your check got into the bank account of the Watergate burglar?
I'm a proper citizen. What I do is proper.
Oh, I understand.
I've just been through a terrible ordeal.
My neighbor's wife has been kidnapped.
How do you think your check got into Barker's account list?
- Committee to Re-Elect the President. - Could I speak to Mr. Clark MacGregor?
- One moment, I'll connect you. - Thank you.
Yes?
- Mr. MacGregor? - Yes.
This is Bob Woodward of the Washington Post.
- Hello? - Yes.
This is Bob Woodward of the Washington Post.
I just spoke to a Mr. Kenneth Dahlberg...
who says that he is Midwest Finance Chairman.
Yeah, I know Ken Dahlberg.
Well, I can't seem to get an explanation on why a check...
for $25,000 made out to Mr. Dahlberg...
that he apparently sent to the Committee to Re-Elect the President...
would end up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar.
I don't know.
- But you're head of the Committee, sir. - Look, I just came aboard.
John Mitchell was the head of the Committee. He might know.
Well, what would the explanation possibly be...
I don't know.
You're implying that I should know...
and if you print that, our relationship will be terminated.
Sir, we don't have a relationship.
The issues of the campaign are peace and prosperity...
not a campaign check.
- Bob. - Sir, no one is saying...
...this happened before I came on board. - Mr. Dahlberg is on line 2.
I'm running a campaign for the re-election of the President.
We've raised $60 million and you're asking about a $25,000 check.
Mr. MacGregor, excuse me, could you hold one second, please?
- All right. - Thank you. Yes?
- Hello. - Mr. Dahlberg?
- Yes? - Could you please hold one second, sir?
- Yes. - Thank you.
- Mr. MacGregor? - Yeah?
Can I call you right back, sir? I'm very sorry.
- Yeah, okay. - Mr. Dahlberg.
Yes. I'm sorry I hung up before.
I wasn't sure you were a Washington Post reporter.
I believe we were talking about a $25,000 check.
Obviously this is difficult for me.
I'm caught in the middle of something and...
I don't know what.
What do you think it could be?
I deal with a lot of important people.
People who work for the Committee? Hello?
For the Committee.
- The Committee to Re-Elect the President? - Yes.
You see, I raised that money in cash...
and I have a winter home in Florida.
- Is that Miami? - Boca Raton...
and I didn't want to carry all that cash around.
- Now, you can understand that. - Of course I can.
So, I had it exchanged for the cashier's check.
And how do you think it got into Barker's account?
I know I shouldn't be telling you this...
I gave it to Mr. Stans.
I beg your pardon?
I gave it to Stans.
Maurice Stans?
- The head of finance for Nixon? - Yes, in Washington.
Now what he did with it, I really do not know.
I see. Were there any other checks that you might be aware of, that could...
That's all I have to say.
Mr. MacGregor... Mr. Dahlberg...
I'm sorry. Thank you very much.
- Bob? - Yeah.
- Carl Bernstein on line 1. - One?
- Yeah? - Woodward?
- Bernstein. - I think I got a lead on Dahlberg.
- I just... I got it. - What?
I just talked to him. I just hung up from him.
Bernstein, listen, it goes all the way to Stans!
- What're you talking about? - It goes all the way to Stans.
He gave the check to Stans for the Committee to Re-Elect!
- Did he say that? - He said it. I've got it in my notes.
- Jesus. - It's down on record, Bernstein.
That money winds up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar?
- Yes! - Fantastic. I'm coming home.
Okay.
... catapulted the unknown Senator from Missouri into national prominence...
by naming Eagleton as his running mate.
... bolstering of support for the Democratic ticket...
Scott, what happened with that Taiwan thing you were telling us about?
Japan is going to break diplomatic ties with Taiwan...
when they recognize Red China.
The irony, of course, that's a direct result of Nixon's visit to China.
Jesus, what did he tell them? What did he say to them?
Incidentally, that's a great parallel story...
if you're going to do that piece on détente.
Right, "Queen Elizabeth proclaims a state of emergency...
"to deal with what we call a 'dock strike."'
Breaking it off...
I'll give you a human interest.
"Thirty-one days of rain in the Philippines...
"is being blamed on the theft of a statue of Jesus."
We had one like that before.
- I'll put my best writer on that. - What about the one in India?
Laugh, gentlemen, it'll be the only story everyone reads.
Okay, National?
We have the Bremer diary. "Wish to kill Nixon."
He took a car trip to New York, Ottawa, and Washington to kill him.
We have the "Senate approving the ABM Treaty."
ABM.
Of course, we have "McGovern offering the VP spot..."
to everybody.
- Yeah, that's news. - I have...
Because everybody's been offered it.
Now, I'll tell you what will be news. When somebody accepts it. That's news.
Here is some great art.
McGovern and Humphrey at breakfast, smiling their asses off.
Isn't that great?
- He says, "I am George's friend..." - Why is that man smiling?
Sounds friendly. Very friendly.
"I'll be helping him in ways he never dreamed possible."
Breakfast followed by lunch.
Okay. Metro?
Well, we got the schoolteachers on Capitol Hill.
They want a 17% increase in pay or this fall they go on strike.
Harry, I think we could mention that this might be the time...
to go to the front page on the district home rule.
- Oh, come on! - Listen to him.
Ben, this time it could go all the way.
The House is going to vote next week on a Senate resolution.
Okay then, well, when they pass it, we'll run with it.
Okay, fellas, let's go around again now. Foreign?
Taiwan emergency, Philippines.
Okay, fine. National?
I'll stand on the Eagleton follow-ups...
McGovern not being able to get a replacement.
He's offered it to Humphrey, Kennedy, and Ribicoff. All turned him down.
That's the Page 1 lead right there.
You're ignoring the importance of the Dahlberg repercussions.
Nobody cares about the Dahlberg repercussions.
Now look, it was our story that got the General Accounting Office...
to start an audit with CREEP Finance.
We printed that didn't we? When the frigging audit's done, we'll print that, too.
Let me tell you what happened today.
I was having lunch at the Sans Souci, and...
this White House guy, a good one, a pro...
came up and asked me, "What is this Watergate compulsion with you guys?"
Compulsion? This is a story. This is not compulsion.
I said, "Well, we think it's important." And he said:
"If it's so goddamn important, who in the hell are Woodward and Bernstein?"
Now, what do you expect him to say from the White House?
"You're doing a great job"?
Why don't you ask him what he's really saying?
He wants to take the story away from Woodstein and...
- give it to his National desk. - At least I have...
some experienced guys sitting around who know the politicians...
- who have the contacts. - We're aware of that.
You said it. Sitting around.
Ben, it's a dangerous story for this paper.
- What if your boys get it wrong? - Then it's our ass, isn't it?
We all have to go out and work for a living.
National gets eight columns.
Nine for Foreign.
Metro, 15.
That's it, fellas.
Hey, Scott, I need to see you.
How dangerous?
Well, it's not just that we're using unnamed sources that bothers me...
or that everything we print, the White House denies...
or that almost no other papers are reprinting our stuff.
What then?
Look, there are over 2,000 reporters in this town...
are there five on Watergate?
Where did the Washington Post suddenly get the monopoly on wisdom?
Why would the Republicans do it?
McGovern is self-destructing, just like Humphrey, Muskie, the bunch of them.
I don't believe their story.
It doesn't make sense.
Yeah, Bernstein.
Now? All right.
Woodward, Bradlee will see us now.
Answer the phone for me, will you?
Are you trying to find the lowest possible common denominator...
Ben, it's the hottest item.
- It's in over 500 papers. - What is it?
Yesterday's weather report for people who were drunk...
and slept all day.
Jesus! Send it out...
to the San Francisco Chronicle. They need it.
- How about the crossword puzzle? - No.
Anagrams?
- No space, Mickey. - Goodbye.
The last thing you bought from me was the obituaries.
- Make him buy something, will you? - All right.
Hey, what do you guys want?
The GAO report's due out the morning of Nixon's renomination.
Sit down.
Well, that's two weeks from now.
Since they're only responsible to Congress...
there's no way the White House can control the investigation.
There's a source over at General Accounting that tells us...
there's a whole rat's nest of illegal shit going on over at CREEP.
- Like what? - Like a slush fund.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars of unaccounted-for cash.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Any comment from CREEP?
Yes. Unavailable for comment. They're not talking.
But what else besides the money? Where's the goddamn story?
The money's the key to whatever this is.
- Says who? - Deep Throat.
- Who? - Oh, that's Woodward's garage freak...
his source in the executive...
Garage freak? Jesus, what kind of a crazy, fucking story is this?
Who did you say?
He's on deep background. I call him "Deep Throat."
Look, McGovern's dropped to nothing...
Nixon's guaranteed the renomination...
and the Post is stuck with a story no one else wants.
It'll sink the goddamn paper.
Everyone says, "Get off it, Ben." And I come on very sage...
and I say, "You'll see. You wait till this bottoms out."
But the truth is, I can't figure out what we've got.
What else are you working on?
We're after a list of CREEP employees.
- Where is it? - It's classified.
- How are you gonna get it? - We haven't had any luck, yet.
Get some.
Anything else?
You made a mistake in there.
What?
You said to Brad that we haven't had any luck yet...
and that's the thing that he jumps on. You can't talk about luck.
If you can't talk in specifics, you shouldn't say anything.
Is there any place you don't smoke?
- What? - Hold it.
- What're you doing? - Kay Eddy.
Doesn't she go with a guy that works for the Committee to Re-Elect?
- The E.R. - All right.
- Eddy? Hey. Kay, can... - Just a second.
- 757-6521. - Okay, I'll get back to you on this, thanks.
Don't you go with a guy that works for the Committee to Re-Elect?
- Not anymore. - You did go with him, though.
I think you were engaged to him, weren't you?
- Yeah. - You got out of it?
- So? - You're looking better.
Look, we need a list of the people that work there.
Do you think that...
- I can't do that. - Why not?
It's personal.
What do you mean? You said it was over.
You're asking me to use a guy I care about.
- No. We're not asking you to use him... - Well, sure...
...just to help us. I mean, we'd do the same for you.
My only chance of getting that story is if I see him.
I don't want to see him again.
- Do you have to see him? - Sure, I have to see him.
No. Do you have to see him that way?
Can't you just call him up on the telephone...
and say you want to have a drink with him, just feel him out?
You say the relationship is over. What the hell do you have to lose?
Forget it.
We don't want you to do anything that would embarrass you...
or that you don't feel right about.
Forget it.
Don't let her just get off. I think she was going to say something.
You just overdramatized it, she was going to give us what we want.
It's over.
- What? - It's over.
Is this the whole list?
Look what it says. "Personnel, Committee to Re-Elect the President."
This is all in alphabetical order. You can't tell who works for who.
Well, find out the department heads like Mitchell, Magruder, Stans.
Here. John Mitchell.
- What's the number? - 301.
All right. Find somebody who has a number close to it.
- They probably work for him. - There's a 303.
Okay.
Okay, we have to find out how the money got from Maurice Stans to the burglars.
Somebody who worked in Finance.
All right. Here's the head of Finance. Maurice Stans, 269.
If we can just get somebody who works under Stans.
- Sloan? You need him? - He's the treasurer.
- What's the number? - Hugh Sloan, 287.
Is there a secretary?
Wait a minute. Manley. Here it is. Irene Manley?
1406 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway.
- Hi, I'm Bob Woodward. - I'm Carl Bernstein.
We're from the Washington Post.
We'd like to know if we could speak to you for a few minutes.
We understand your daughter works for the Committee to Re-Elect.
- Wouldn't be anything embarrassing. - Would you object to just...
- Yes? - Hi.
Miss Milland? Betty Milland?
- I'm Bob Woodward. - Carl Bernstein.
We're from the Washington Post.
I know you're trying to do your job. I mean...
You don't understand the pressure that we're under.
It'll just take a couple of seconds. If we can just come in for a couple of...
- No, I really don't... - We don't want to come in.
We understand that there was some documents...
that were shredded at the Committee.
Well, there...
There's often shredding. We do that a lot.
- Were you there during the shredding? - Yes, I was.
I see. Were there any department heads from...
the Committee who were also present?
Yes. Mr. Mitchell came in one night.
John Mitchell? The Attorney General?
He was carrying a raincoat over his head.
I thought he was going to go...
Did he supervise the shredding?
Can I not answer any more questions? I'd just soon not...
Okay? Maybe I could call you?
- Are you being told not to talk? - Will you call us?
I don't know.
I'll try.
What about all that shredding that took place after the break-in?
Need to know more about the papers that were in shredding.
I think you've some idea what's in the papers...
when the former Attorney General comes to the office...
when it's taking place at the Committee to Re-Elect...
and got a raincoat over his head. Why's he in a raincoat?
Could be raining is what could've happened.
Let me go through the story again.
You got a woman who's frightened at the door. Works for CREEP.
She said there's shredding taking place. We don't know what's in the papers.
We know the former Attorney General comes in with an overcoat over his head.
It could be raining. There's a lawyer present.
We don't know what he asked them. She wouldn't talk about it.
Now, will you please tell me where there's a story?
There's a story in the fact that the interview did not take place in her home...
but in the office of the Committee to Re-Elect.
How's there a story in that? It's not enough!
There's a story because there's a lawyer in the office.
- I mean, you're more resistant than she is. - That's right.
- Why? - Because there's not enough fact.
Well, let's just turn around and go back and question her again.
- This won't take long at all. We just want... - Please go away, okay?
Will you please leave before they see you.
- Who did you mean by... - Who do you mean, "they"?
Could you give us their names?
We haven't revealed the sources of people that have talked to us.
You know, I really can't talk about this because...
Would "they" be members of the Committee?
Someone got to that woman.
It's the key to the whole cover-up.
How can you write that there's a cover-up?
We don't know that there's a cover-up!
Well, then, I don't know what the hell you need.
So, you tell me what you need.
I need more fact for a story is what I need...
and I think you should need the same thing.
Okay, if you get in the car...
and there's music playing in the car, hypothetically.
There's music playing in the car for 10 minutes...
and there's no commercial. What can you deduce from that?
- Is it AM or FM? - Come on, Bernstein!
Is it AM or FM?
A guy can come up to me on the street and he can ask me an address.
Now, is the man interrogating me, or is he lost?
What kind of a story do I write?
What kind of a deduction do I make from that?
Because you don't have a gut feeling that the woman is trying to help us?
No, I don't have enough gut feeling and I wish I did.
We're from the Washington Post...
Abbott, Addis, Agusto, Albus...
Is there something that strikes you as odd about this?
- What? - It's almost like there's a pattern...
to the way they're not talking.
The way they say "no"all the time. I think it's odd.
- Mrs. Hambling? - Yes.
Hi, we're from the Washington Post.
I'm Carl Bernstein, this is Bob Woodward.
A friend of the Committee said that we could contact you.
- Who was it? - We can't reveal that.
You can talk to us. We don't reveal our sources.
You people...
You think you can come into my home, ask a few questions...
have me destroy the reputations of men that I work for and respect?
Do you understand loyalty?
Have you ever heard of loyalty?
- Hi. - Yes?
I'm Bob Woodward.
Carl Bernstein. We're from the Washington Post.
Yes.
I've read what you've written. I want to thank you.
I've been a Republican all my life, but this goes beyond party politics.
Would you mind if we asked you a few questions?
No. Come in. Would you like coffee?
Sure.
What they've done is a threat to the Constitution.
It goes against everything we stand for.
Could you be a little bit more specific than that?
I'm afraid your articles have just scratched the surface.
You don't mind if I just take a few notes, do you?
No.
How long have you worked at the Committee?
Committee?
Yes, the Committee to Re-Elect the President.
Oh, I don't work at the Committee to Re-Elect the President.
I work at Garfinkel's, in the accounting department.
- Miss Abbott? - Yes.
Judith Abbott?
Carolyn Abbott.
We're just doing something wrong.
- Never been there. - No.
We're doing something wrong.
It's just not good enough.
How can you keep going at something past the point when you believe it?
We just have to start all over again.
Nasmith, Narrow, Ness...
Nickels, Nixon...
Ed Nixon.
Jolson, Jones...
Jordan, Jost.
If we could only get somebody that worked for Finance to talk.
I can't believe it.
- What about the bookkeeper? - Which bookkeeper?
The bookkeeper that worked for both Slans and...
- Oh, you're all right. - Sloan and Stans.
I've been there. I've called her twice. There's no answer.
I say we should start again.
Abbott, Addis, Agusto...
Albus, Aldus, Alexander...
Balowski, Clan, Donstille...
Boyle, Brenner, Bromley...
Jost, Nasmith...
Narrow, Ness, Nickels...
Martini, Sandstrom...
Skroes, Skully...
Skully. We've been there twice.
All right, Willcox, Windfall, Winter...
Two weeks work, half the names crossed off and what've you got?
People aren't talking, Harry.
And it's the way they're not talking that's unnatural.
Harry, we've been up all night. We went over all the quotes of the people.
- Slamming doors in our faces. - It's like they're getting instructions.
Want to hear some real news?
That GAO report in which you placed so much faith...
well, it 's been postponed till after tonight's renomination.
- What do you mean? - Hughes got a call from Stans in Florida.
Says he has new information, not to republish without it.
They're going to bury the report until after the renomination.
The Grand Jury indictment will be out soon and every indication says...
the indictment will stop at the five burglars, Hunt and Liddy.
And that's the end of your story.
The vote of all the delegates has been recorded.
The vote for Richard Nixon...
is 1,347.
The vote for Paul McCloskey is one.
And therefore I declare the nominee of the Republican Party...
for President of the United States...
President Richard Nixon.
Four more years!
The President, and the future President of the United States of America!
Wonderful young faces I see out there.
Your enthusiasm, your idealism, your hard work.
This is your first vote, and years from now...
I just hope you can all look back...
and say it was one of your best votes. Thank you.
Hi, I'm Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post and...
I just want to ask you a couple of questions.
Well, you don't want me. You want my sister.
It's for you. It's Carl Bernstein.
Oh, my God. He's the guy from the Post. Get rid of him.
Could I just borrow one of your cigarettes there?
Sure.
You've really got to go.
Sure. Could I just get a match?
I can understand your being afraid.
There's a lot of people at the Committee just like you...
who wanted to tell the truth but some people wouldn't listen.
Certain people have gone back to the prosecutors and the FBI...
to give information which they were never asked.
You were Hugh Sloan's bookkeeper when he worked for Maurice Stans at Finance...
and we were just wondering if you were...
promoted to work for Mr. Stans immediately after Mr. Sloan quit...
or whether there was some time lapse?
I never worked for Sloan or Stans.
Can I get you some coffee or something?
Yeah. Thanks very much.
Door sticks.
Could I just sit down for a second?
Sure, you can sit down, but I'm not going to tell you anything.
Okay.
I was just curious why you lied just then.
Have you been threatened if you tell the truth?
No.
Never in so many words.
- How do you like it? - Just milk.
- Thanks. - Okay, I'll just get that.
I saw in the wires that Mrs. Stans was in the hospital.
Is she feeling better?
The GAO, the General Accounting Report said that...
there was $350,000 in the safe of the Committee to Re-Elect the President.
Were you aware that it was that kind of funds from the very beginning?
A lot of people are watching me. They know I know a lot.
Was it all in $100 bills?
A lot of it was.
I thought it was an all-purpose, political fund...
you know, for taking fat cats to dinner, things like that.
$350,000 for dinners?
How was it paid out?
Not in one big chunk.
There was a list of 15 names and the amount of money...
given to each person next to the name.
What happened to the list?
It was destroyed. It was the only record.
Don't pay attention to this. This is for my memory.
I have a very bad memory.
You won't be quoted by name.
In fact, we get confirmations before we print anything.
I can't be...
positive that that money was used for the break-in, you understand?
Yes, I do.
- But, people sure are worried. - Which people?
Think you could help me with the disbursement of money...
in terms of the number of people that were involved? How many?
A group of them. About five. I don't know their names.
Would Mr. Sloan know?
- Would he... - I don't want to say anymore, okay?
I won't be much longer.
I wondered if you could just help me a little bit about...
the money. We hear all kinds of figures.
- There's so much of it. - How much is "so much"?
In one two-day period, $6 million came in.
- Six! - Six million, cash.
We didn't know where to put it all.
I thought it was all legal. I mean, I guess I did until...
after the break-in when I remembered Gordon got so much of it.
- This is Mr. Liddy? - It's all so rotten.
It's getting worse.
And the only one I care about is Hugh Sloan.
His wife was going to leave him if he didn't stand up and do what was right.
So, he quit.
I was wondering...
if Hugh Sloan was being set up now as a fall guy for John Mitchell.
What do you think?
If you guys could get John Mitchell, that would be beautiful.
Coffee's cold.
Is there any evidence that...
any of Mr. Mitchell's assistants...
were part of this?
I had all the evidence. It was destroyed. I don't know who destroyed it.
- I think Gordon did a lot of shredding. - Hard evidence?
Well, I can't say that it would positively prove that they planned the break-in...
but it would come pretty close.
Can you tell me anything about who got the money?
We have...
had some help on this from a couple of sources...
and this is a way of confirming it.
I don't want you to feel that you're in a position...
where you have to disclose names.
I can just ask you initials...
and then that way you're not divulging any information.
We have some idea. Would that be all right?
Was there an "M"?
Can you just nod either way?
Did it go that high up?
"L"?
I don't want to say any more, okay?
I'm sorry. You said "L"...
or... I get confused.
Could we just go back for a second?
In one six-day period, over $6 million came in.
You wouldn't believe what was going on inside that woman.
The stuff was just ready to pour out.
I'm pouring down cups of coffee trying to get it out of her...
before she throws me out of the house.
- Give me your notes so... - These are the notes.
- These are the notes? - I've got stuff on napkins, matchbooks...
I'm writing in the bathroom while she's getting coffee.
- I'm a walking litter basket! - You're crazy.
You'd be crazy, too, if you were operating on 20 cups of coffee.
Could you give me something I can get down?
I got it. I got it all.
Okay. Write.
- Mitchell was in control. - Wait a minute.
- There were men working under Mitchell... - How many?
I don't know how many, but the men working under Mitchell...
received the money from the slush fund.
Do we know how much money?
We're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And these men are the key to what that money was used for.
Boy, that woman was paranoid.
At one point, I suddenly wondered how high up this thing goes...
and her paranoia finally got to me.
I thought what we had was so hot, that any minute CBS or NBC...
would come in through the windows and take the story away.
You're both paranoid.
She's afraid of John Mitchell, you're afraid of Walter Cronkite.
- Right. - Can we go back to what she said?
Here. "L," "P," and "M."
- What do you mean? - It's "L," "P," and "M".
- She'd only give initials. - Initials?
The initials are the name of the men that worked under Mitchell. "L," "P," and "M."
You couldn't get the names?
If I could've gotten the names, I would've gotten the names!
I'm with the woman, trying to get anything I can.
She said "L," "P," and "M," that's all she would give me...
are the people who worked under Mitchell.
She said something about Mitchell. She hates him.
She said, "John Mitchell...
"If you guys could get John Mitchell, that would be beautiful."
Wait a minute, what's this here? What are you writing about Sloan?
"Sloan was the treasurer of the Committee to Re-Elect.
"His wife is pregnant and she made Sloan quit because apparently...
"he no longer wanted to be a part of it."
We've got to go see Sloan.
Okay. Make a note of it. So, what have we got?
Where's that matchbook?
- Here. - "L," "P," and "M."
Okay, "L," "P," and "M."
- "L" could be La Rue. It could be Liddy. - "L" is Liddy.
- How do we know that? - Because she said it.
Right here. She said, "At the time of the break-in...
"there was so much money floating around...
"that I know Gordon got part of it."
So I said, "You mean Gordon Liddy?" She said, "Yes."
So, "L" is Liddy. Okay, that leaves "P" and "M."
"P" could be...
Parkinson. It could be Porter. It could be...
Wait a minute! There was a guy once. There was a guy we talked to last week.
Didn't he say that there was a Bart Porter...
who at one time was a member of the Committee to Re-Elect?
Porter was called before the Grand Jury investigation.
So "P" is definitely Porter.
"P" could be Porter.
"P" is Porter, "L" is Liddy. All that leaves is "M"!
"M" could be McCord? That's out.
It could be Mardian.
It could be...
- Magruder! - I think it's Magruder.
- I think it's Magruder, too. - Why do you think it's Magruder?
Because he was second in command under Mitchell.
Why do you think it's Magruder?
Because at one time he was a temporary head...
of the Committee to Re-Elect, before Mitchell.
I don't want a cookie.
We've got to get that bookkeeper to say it was Magruder.
Never get her to say anything about "M."
We have got to go back there and try to get her to say it.
If we could make names of the initials...
then we'll know the people at CREEP who paid off the burglars.
We'll at least know who got the money.
The indictments that came down from the Grand Jury today...
stopped...
with the five burglars, Hunt and Liddy.
Carl, we have got to go back there and get that bookkeeper...
to say who the names are and not initials.
She ain't going to give it to you...
because I was with the woman for six hours.
- We have to try. - Then you'll have to trick her, threaten her.
- She's not going to do it. - Wait a minute.
- You know what we could do? - What?
- Listen, we go back there... - Yeah.
...and you ask her who "P" is. - Yeah.
And then I say, "No, don't worry about it...
"we know 'P' is Porter." I just bury it.
Okay. Now, wait a minute. I say to her, "Who is 'P'?"
- And then you say to me... - I say, "No, we know 'P' is Porter."
- You mean, you try to fake her out? - Right.
- And what if she denies it? - We're screwed.
- So? - But if she doesn't, we know we got it.
- We know "P" is Porter. - Try it.
Hi.
They'll see you.
Not if you let us in, they won't.
And I'm Bob Woodward.
- They'll see your car. - We parked around the corner.
You have answers for everything, don't you?
If we did, we wouldn't be here.
You wrote what I told you.
Oh, no. Not your name. No one knows it was you.
Could you tell us who got the money?
And how much?
You mean like, "What did you do with the $25,000, lady?"
What?
Little jokes they're making down at Finance these days.
If people are to be convinced...
that Stans and Sloan are innocent, then our reporting must be precise...
and you can help us.
Who is "P"?
"P" we know, is Porter. You said, "$25,000."
Is that how much Porter got?
Was it more?
Was it more than $50,000?
Was Magruder the only "M" to receive money?
Who told you about Porter?
I'd like to move on now to the subject of the break-in at the Watergate...
and the controversies that keep coming up out of that.
It has recently, very recently been reported now, that...
some documents were torn up...
at the Committee to Re-Elect the President.
Are you investigating the tearing up of those documents...
Well, I think that came out in a story in the Washington Post.
- Yes. - I think the investigation...
that has just concluded itself...
has probably been one of the most intensive...
that the Department of Justice and the FBI has ever been involved in.
Some 1,500 persons were interviewed...
1,800 leads were followed, 333 agents were involved...
14,000 man-hours...
fifty-one of the 59 FBI field officers were involved.
And that, I think...
is a great credit to justice in this country.
Did you know that documents had been destroyed?
No, I did not.
All these neat little houses and all these nice little streets.
It's hard to believe that something's wrong in some of those little houses.
No, it isn't.
- Hello, I'm Carl Bernstein. - Bob Woodward.
We'd just like to talk to Mr. Sloan for a couple of minutes.
- He's resting right now. - Are you Mrs. Sloan?
- You're the two from the Post, aren't you? - Yes.
This is an honest house.
That's why we'd like to see your husband.
Faced with certain criminal charges that might be brought...
against some people that are innocent, we just feel that...
It's really for his benefit.
No, it's not.
Deborah, tell them to come in.
Thanks.
- Hi, Carl Bernstein. - How do you do? Hugh Sloan.
- Bob Woodward. - How are you doing?
I appreciate you giving us the time.
You know, the reason that we're here, basically...
is that we've talked to certain people who...
have indicated that the reason you left the Committee...
was because you no longer want to be part of it.
Yeah, right. Maybe there's a legitimate explanation...
why the money was handed to Liddy and Mitchell's aides.
Try to understand this.
- I'm a Republican. - I am, too.
Well, I believe in Richard Nixon.
I worked in the White House for four years and so did my wife.
What happened on June 17, I don't think the President knew anything about.
Is it possible that some of his people might have known?
I'm not sure about that.
Do you think the truth will ever come out at the trial?
- That's another thing I'm not sure about. - Why?
Well, obviously, because certain people lied to the prosecutor.
No. We were never told flat out, "Don't talk!"
But the message was clear, though.
In other words, by their very silence, there was a cover-up.
Well, they didn't urge us to come forward and tell the truth.
"They," meaning the White House?
Well, the Committee's not an independent operation.
Everything's cleared with the White House.
And I don't think the FBI or the prosecutors understand that.
That report on the cash...
in the CREEP safe, that $350,000?
- No, more. - Was that a correct figure?
No, it was closer to $1,000,000.
And, as treasurer, you could release those funds?
When so ordered.
We don't know the names of the people who could order you.
- We just know that there were four. - No, there were five.
Mitchell, Stans, Magruder, they're obvious.
- There had to be a White House overseer. - Yeah, Colson.
No, Colson's too smart to get involved directly with anything like that.
It's Haldeman.
Right?
I won't talk about the other two.
They both worked at the White House?
One of them did, the other one's not in Washington. But that's all I'll say.
- Kalmbach. - Nixon's personal lawyer.
- Right? - Nixon's personal lawyer?
I can't say anything. I'm sorry.
- Well... - When's the baby due?
Soon. Next month.
- Are you going to stay here? - No, I don't think so.
Decided where you're gonna go?
I've been looking for a job in the private sector, but it's...
It's very hard. My name's been in the papers too much.
You know, one thing I'm just still not completely clear about?
When you handed out the money, how did that work, exactly?
Badly.
I think what Bob means is, that ordinarily, what was the procedure?
Routine. I'd call John Mitchell over at the Justice Department.
He'd say, "Go ahead, give out the money."
This was all done verbally?
Yes.
Okay, we know there were five men who controlled the slush fund.
Mitchell, Stans, and Magruder.
Yeah, those three we've got. And all three have been named by two sources.
What about the other two?
- Kalmbach. - We're pretty sure of Kalmbach.
Maybe we better wait until we get all five, huh?
Certain on Mitchell?
We know that he approved payments to Liddy while he was Attorney General.
- You've got more than one source? - Yes, Harry.
- Who are they? - Sloan.
Sloan and who else?
There's another guy at Justice who so far won't confirm...
the names of the others who control the fund. We're working on it.
- What about Deep Throat? - He's not a source on this.
- But do any of them have an axe? - No.
Personal, political, sexual.
- Is there anything at all on Mitchell? - No.
- Then can we use their names? - No.
God damn it! When is somebody gonna go on the record in this story?
You guys are about to write a story that says the former Attorney General...
the highest ranking law enforcement officer in this country is a crook!
Just be sure you're right.
- Essex House, may I help you? - John Mitchell.
Yes?
Sir, this is Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post...
and I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour.
Tomorrow we're running a story in the paper...
and we just think that you should have a chance to comment on it.
What does it say?
"John N. Mitchell, while serving...
"as United States Attorney General...
"personally controlled a secret cash fund...
"that was used to gather information about the Democrats...
- "according to"... - Jesus.
"...sources involved in the Watergate investigation."
- Jesus. - "Beginning in the spring of 1971...
"almost a year before he left the Justice Department...
"to become President Nixon's campaign manager...
"on March 1, Mitchell personally approved withdrawals from the fund."
All that crap. You're putting it in the paper?
- Well... - It's all been denied.
You tell your publisher, tell Katie Graham...
she's going to get her tit caught in the big ringer if that's published.
Christ, that's the most sickening thing I ever heard.
Sir, I was just wondering if I could ask you some questions?
- What time is it? - It's 11:30, sir.
11:30? Is it morning or night?
It's 11:30 at night, sir.
Sir, the Committee to Re-Elect has issued a statement to our story...
but there are just a couple of questions...
Did the Committee tell you to go ahead and publish the story?
You fellows have got a great ballgame going.
As soon as you're done, we're going to do a story on all of you.
Sir, there's just a couple of questions...
Call my law office in the morning.
There's no question you properly identified yourself?
He said it right off the top.
Mitchell know he was talking to a reporter?
Yeah, but I think I woke him up.
- Get good notes? - Verbatim.
He really said that about Mrs. Graham?
Well, I'd cut the words "her tit" and print it.
Why?
This is a family newspaper.
You know, once when I was reporting...
Lyndon Johnson's top guy gave me the word.
They were looking for a successor for J. Edgar Hoover.
I wrote it and the day it appeared, Johnson held a press conference...
and appointed Hoover head of the FBI for life.
When he was done, he turned to his top guy...
and the President said, "Call Ben Bradlee and tell him, 'Fuck you."'
Then everybody said, "You did it, Ben. You screwed up.
"You stuck us with Hoover forever."
I screwed up, but I wasn't wrong.
How much can you tell me about Deep Throat?
How much do you need to know?
Do you trust him?
Yeah.
I can't do the reporting for my reporters which means I have to trust them.
And I hate trusting anybody.
Run that, baby.
The Washington Post reported that while still in office as Attorney General...
John Mitchell had personally controlled a secret Republican fund.
Mitchell denied any such involvement and called the story ludicrous.
The new charge also brought a response from Vice President Agnew...
at his stop in Tampa.
I have full confidence in Mr. Mitchell...
and in the people in the Republican organization.
And I think that that kind of unattributed report...
at a time like this is counterproductive.
We must bear in mind that those who published it...
have already shown their sympathy for the other ticket.
A band and some young cheerleaders...
All non-denial denials.
They doubt our ancestry, but they don't say the story isn't accurate.
I mean, did you understand one thing he was saying?
What I can't figure out is, what is a real denial?
Well, if they start calling us goddamn liars, we better start circling the wagons.
When do you think they'll start doing that?
When they get out of Tampa.
Joe, come on. What's going on with you guys at the FBI?
I've been trying to get to you for weeks.
Your secretary says you're not in.
Last night I called, you said you couldn't talk...
and this morning, as soon as our Mitchell story hits the stands...
you call me and say you've got to see me right away. Why?
Look, you guys have been causing big trouble at the Bureau.
Why?
Our reports are showing up in your paper almost verbatim.
I mean, you've really been on the mark, except for Mitchell.
Now, we didn't have that...
- that he controlled the funds. - Right.
Our agents have been busting ass...
but we're gonna go back now and see if we've missed anything.
What I don't understand is all the people...
who might know details of the bugging operation...
the FBI hasn't even talked to.
And why have you conducted your interviews of CREEP personnel...
at CREEP headquarters...
instead of at their homes where they might feel freer to talk?
Joe, wait a minute.
Why have the interviews at CREEP always been conducted...
within the presence of the lawyer who works for CREEP?
Look, you know I can't answer for the whole Bureau.
- Oh, come on, I'm just... - I do what I'm told.
I followed my orders. Period.
What orders?
Wait. Woodward!
Wait!
Bob!
Out of the blue. Out of the blue.
Okay, this morning I get a tip to call a guy by the name of Alex Shipley...
who is now the Assistant Attorney General of Tennessee.
Now, the guy told me, that called me, that said...
He said that Shipley was asked in the summer of 1971...
by an old army buddy, a Donald Segretti...
to join a group of other lawyers...
for Nixon's campaign to sabotage the Democratic candidates.
Listen, make a left when you can. We'll go to my place.
Sabotage Democratic candidates?
That's right. Now, I was able to make a couple of calls today...
and I got Segretti's records for the year...
His travel records for the years 1971-'72.
Does the FBI know about...
- Did you say left or right? - Left!
We're going to my place. We gotta go over the records.
- Does the FBI know about Segretti? - The FBI interrogated Segretti...
and found out he wasn't involved in the break-in so they dropped it.
They didn't follow through on it.
- Where is he? - He's in California.
- Jesus, look at this. - What?
Segretti crisscrossed the country at least a dozen times.
He only stayed in cities where there were Democratic primaries.
Well, if the break-in is just one incident in a campaign of sabotage...
that began a whole year before Watergate...
then for the first time, the break-in makes sense.
This isn't so crazy.
This thing didn't start with the bugging at the headquarters.
Segretti was doing this a year before the bugging.
And a year before, Nixon wasn't slaughtering Muskie.
He was running behind Muskie, before Muskie self-destructed.
If he self-destructed.
- Hi. Donald Segretti? - That's right.
I'm Carl Bernstein from the Washington Post.
Hi.
What can I do for you?
Well, my paper just sent me out here to try to persuade you to go on the record.
Why me?
I guess because you were the head coordinator...
of Nixon's sabotage campaign against the Democrats.
- Carl, you want some coffee? - You read my mind.
Carl, tell me something.
What do you imagine the head coordinator does?
Well, I guess basically you're involved in recruiting other people like yourself...
other lawyers.
- Lawyers? - Like Alex Shipley.
I made it clear that I would not do anything violent or illegal.
What do you mean by illegal?
Watergate, I mean, that's... The whole bugging. That's horrendous!
And what kind of stuff do you guys do then?
Nickel-and-dime stuff.
Stuff. Stuff with a little wit attached to it.
You mean, when you sent out on Muskie's stationery that...
Senator Hubert Humphrey was going out with call girls?
Listen, if anything, it helped the man's image.
What was the one on Muskie's stationery that you sent out...
that said that Scoop Jackson was having a bastard child?
So, sometimes it got up to a quarter. Off the record.
I think one of the most interesting ones was the Canuck letter.
What about it?
Come on. Where you claimed that Muskie slurred the Canadians.
No, I didn't write that.
Do you know who did?
Carl, when you guys print it in the papers, then I'll know.
Smart guy, Donald.
You're no dummy.
I'm a lawyer, Carl.
I'm a lawyer. I'm a good lawyer...
and I'll probably wind up going to jail and being disbarred...
and I don't know what I did that was so goddamn awful.
I'll tell you something. None of this was my idea.
I didn't go looking for the job.
Well, that's important.
Chapin came to you.
You know what?
It's funny, but I keep forgetting that you guys knew each other in college.
You were friends at SC, you and Chapin. Who else was there?
There was me...
Dwight...
Ziegler...
all the USC mafia.
And that's when you got involved in meaningless student elections...
when you start to try to get your man in so you stuffed ballot boxes and...
What's that term you guys use for screwing up the opposition?
- Rat-fucking. - That's right.
You were just doing the same kind of stuff...
when you were out campaigning for President Nixon.
Let me tell you something, we did a lot of worse things in college.
Look, let me ask you something, Carl.
What would you have done if you were just getting out of the army...
been away from the real world for four years...
didn't know what kind of law you wanted to practice...
and one day you get a call from an old friend...
asking if you want to go to work for the President of the United States?
Chapin was the appointment secretary for Nixon when he called.
Yeah. Listen, if those sinister things really happened...
I don't think Dwight knew anything about them.
He just did what he was told.
Told by who?
What's the topic for tonight?
Rat-fucking.
In my day it was simply known as the double-cross.
In our present context...
it means infiltration of the Democrats.
Segretti won't go on the record...
but if he would, we know he would implicate Chapin.
And that would put you inside the White House.
Who?
Be specific.
How high up?
You'll have to find that out for yourself.
I don't like newspapers.
I don't care for inexactitude...
and shallowness.
The CREEP slush fund that financed the rat-fucking...
we've just about got that nailed down. I don't know how...
Did you change cabs?
Yeah.
Does the FBI know what we know?
Does Justice?
Why haven't they done anything?
If it didn't deal directly with the break-in, they didn't pursue.
Who told them not to?
Don't you understand what you're on to?
- Mitchell knew? - Of course Mitchell knew.
Do you think something this size just happens?
Haldeman had to know, too.
You'll get nothing from me about Haldeman.
Segretti said that...
Don't concentrate on Segretti. You'll miss the overall.
The letter that destroyed the Muskie candidacy...
the Canuck letter, did that come from inside the White...
You're missing the overall.
But what overall?
They were frightened of Muskie, and look who got destroyed.
They wanted to run against McGovern. Look who they're running against.
They bugged, they followed people...
false press leaks, fake letters.
They canceled Democratic campaign rallies.
They investigated Democratic private lives.
They planted spies, stole documents, and on and on.
Now, don't tell me you think this is all the work of little Don Segretti.
The FBI and Justice know this?
- Carl? - Yeah.
Why don't you pick up your messages more often?
- Right. You got a cigarette? - Yeah.
Who's Pete Teller?
I haven't the slightest idea, Carl. I have this whole place to take care of.
- Carl? - Yeah, one second.
Tell him to leave his phone number next time, all right? Hi, Sally.
Listen, do you guys know about the Canuck letter?
Yep. I'm sorry, I'm late.
I just wanted to make sure you knew who wrote it.
What?
You mean the letter that sabotaged the Muskie candidacy?
All right, come here.
When did he tell you this?
Gotta tell Bob.
- Woodward. - What?
One second. Very important... Come here.
Tell him what you told me.
Here, sit down.
Just exactly the way you said it to me, say it to him.
Ken Clawson told me he wrote the Canuck letter.
The letter that said Muskie was slurring the Canadians.
Clawson?
The Deputy Director of White House Communications wrote the Canuck letter.
- When did he tell you this? - When we were having drinks.
- Where were you? - My apartment.
- When did you say he told you? - Two weeks ago.
What else did he say? He didn't say anything?
Come on, you're hedging.
You think he said it to impress you to get you to go to bed with him?
- Jesus. - No, I want to hear her say it.
Do you think he said that to impress you, try to get you to go to bed with him?
Why did it take you two weeks to tell us this, Sally?
I guess I don't have the taste for the jugular you guys have.
You're claiming it was all a misunderstanding?
Absolutely. Sally's got it all wrong.
I never told her that I wrote that letter.
We were just shooting the breeze about the election.
She's an awfully good reporter.
I don't remember her getting that much wrong before, do you?
Look, that's a real bullshit question, Woodward.
That is a question straight out of Wichita, Kansas.
Listen. One last thing.
Do you remember where this shooting the breeze took place?
What do you mean, where?
I mean, was it a restaurant, or her apartment, or a bar?
Now, look. I'd forgotten the entire incident...
but it most certainly wasn't in her apartment.
- Do you remember when it took place? - I don't have time for this. I'm a busy man.
Did you get all that?
What did he say about meeting in a bar or restaurant?
He said he forgot the entire incident.
- That means he didn't deny it. - That's a non-denial denial.
Wichita, Kansas?
Yeah, he said that's a bullshit question, Woodward...
I know what he said. But I'm from Wheaton, Illinois.
Hey, Bob, Carl. He's on the phone.
- Who? - Clawson.
Get over there on line 4 and transcribe this, will you? Four.
- Four? - Okay. Yeah.
Yes, Ken.
Sally, for Christ's sakes, don't tell them I came to your place.
Why not? What's wrong with coming over for a drink?
You and me? In your apartment?
Well?
Jesus Christ, you just shot me down.
If that appears in the papers that I'm over at your house, having...
- Do you know what that does? - No, I don't see why.
You don't? You don't?
- There's nothing bad about it. - Well, there sure is.
This is just incredible.
Well, I have a clear conscience.
Sally, I have a wife, and a family, and a dog, and a cat.
She said that he was in her house having drinks.
Now, look, I don't care where it happened. What happened is what counts.
When we asked him about it, he said he forgot the entire incident.
- Yeah? - Ken Clawson on the line.
- Jesus.
Ken. What's up, kid?
Ben, now, look, this whole thing that's going on over there, Ben...
I want you to know that I never claimed authorship of the Canuck letter!
Says he never wrote the letter.
It's some kind of misunderstanding, a confusion, I want you to know...
Slow down, Ken. You sound frazzled.
Now, Ben, please, listen.
If you're going to refer to that alleged conversation with Sally Aiken...
you can't print that it took place in her apartment.
I have a wife, and a family, and a dog, and a cat.
"A wife, and a family, and a dog, and a cat."
Right, Ken, right. Yeah.
Now, Ken, I don't want to print that you were in Sally's apartment.
Thank God.
I just want to know what you said in Sally's apartment.
- Hello. - Bernstein...
I just got a tip from our FBI source. The secret cash fund financed Segretti.
- Jesus. - All right. Now, listen.
Chapin hired Segretti, we know that. And we know Haldeman hired Chapin.
Haldeman has to be the fifth name to control the fund.
Sloan knows.
We've only got four out of the five who controlled the fund.
It has to be Haldeman.
I don't think we've got it.
We know the fifth is a top White House official.
But no one has said it. No one has named Haldeman.
- No one's denied it. - That still doesn't prove it was Haldeman.
If you go to bed at night and there's no snow on the ground...
when you wake up and there's snow on the ground...
you can say it snowed during the night, although you didn't see it.
But if we can't prove the fifth man is Haldeman, we're wiped out.
Everything in that campaign is done with his approval.
We know that everybody who works under Haldeman...
does so with his knowledge.
And everybody is under Haldeman, except the President.
Common sense says it's Haldeman.
If we go and see Sloan...
and we tell him that we know that he named Haldeman to the Grand Jury...
Then all we would need to do is have him confirm it.
Right.
- Want to do it that way? - Yes.
Let's go back and see Sloan.
We can't go now 'cause he's not home yet.
He may not be answering, but he might be there.
- Hi. - Please.
Listen, we've already written the story. We just need you to define...
Deborah's in the hospital and my in-laws are coming...
- Two questions? - We understand.
Two questions?
The cash that financed the Watergate break-in...
five men had control of the fund.
Mitchell, Stans, Magruder, Kalmbach. We have confirmations on those four.
- We just found out Haldeman's the fifth. - I'm not your source on that.
We're not asking you to be our source. All we're asking is to confirm it.
I'm not your source on Haldeman.
Okay, look, when you were questioned by the Grand Jury...
You had to name names.
- Of course, everything they asked, yes. - Lf they asked you. All right if they...
I don't know... Say we wrote a story that said that Haldeman...
was the fifth name to control the fund.
- Would we be in any trouble? - Would we be wrong?
Let me put it this way.
I would have no problems if you wrote a story like that.
- You wouldn't? - No.
- That's okay. Yeah. - Okay.
- Oh, you had a baby. - Yes, my wife did.
- Little boy or girl? - That's terrific.
It's a girl.
- Congratulations. - Thank you.
- We're sorry to bother you. - Yeah.
- Will you give our best to her? - I will.
Well, I think that, Woodward, and I am curious of the fact...
that the FBI, in its entire inquiry, never talked to the...
Or did any inquiries into the second most-powerful man to the President.
You don't seem to understand.
No, you get nothing about Haldeman out of me.
But we don't need to know anything, Joe.
Tomorrow we're going with a story on the FBI.
Now, what does that mean?
And we're going to establish in that story...
that you guys just about blew the whole investigation.
Oh, no, we didn't miss so much.
You didn't know Haldeman had control of the slush fund?
Oh, yes, we did. It's all in our files.
- Not about Haldeman. - Yeah, Haldeman. John Haldeman.
Look, now, look, I'm very busy. I've got to go put the kids to bed.
That's the confirmation right there.
Wait a minute, wait a sec. Did he say John?
- He said Haldeman. - He said John Haldeman.
What the hell difference does it make if he said Isaiah or David?
There's only one Haldeman.
Yeah, well, Isaiah or David aren't assistants to the President.
I don't know, it still feels thin.
Christ, I just wish we knew if we could print this.
Now wait a minute, we didn't make them do these things...
but once they did, they're fair game!
Harry, let's go over your sources again. I want to hear it.
Sloan told the Grand Jury. He answered everything they asked him.
That means there's gotta be a record somewhere.
He told the Grand Jury, the FBI confirms. What more do you need?
I happen to love this country.
You know, we're not a bunch of zanies out to bring it down!
Harry, weren't you arguing the opposite way?
No, not at all.
All right, now hold it.
One thing has nothing to do with the other.
We're about to accuse Haldeman who only happens to be...
the second-most-important man in this country...
of conducting a criminal conspiracy from inside the White House.
It would be nice if we were right.
- Have you double-checked your sources? - Jesus.
- Bernstein, are you sure on this story? - Absolutely!
- Woodward? - I'm sure.
I'm not. It still seems thin.
Get another source.
How many fucking sources do they think we've got?
- Are you sure Deep Throat won't confirm? - He won't confirm, I told you that.
What about the guy in Justice?
You can't call him. He's right next to the Grand Jury.
- We have no choice. It's trouble. - It's 20 minutes to deadline.
I don't even know if I can get him on the phone.
- Dr. Kissinger's office. - Deputy General's office, please.
Do you know when you expect him back?
No, sir. I believe he's left for the evening.
If you'd like to leave a message... Oh, could you hold, please?
Hi, this is Carl. I'm sorry to disturb you now...
but we're going with the story that Haldeman was the fifth man...
in control of the fund and they're hassling us here.
We've got three confirmations. If you could help us, I'd appreciate it.
I won't say anything about Haldeman. Not ever.
I understand. We wouldn't want you to do that.
We know it's against the law for you to say anything.
If there's a way you could warn us to hold on the story, we'd appreciate it.
I'd really like to help you, but I can't.
Look, I'm going to count to 10, all right?
If there's any reason we should hold on the story...
hang up the phone before I get to 10.
If the story's all right, you just be on the phone after I get to 10, all right?
- Hang up, right? - That's right.
- You got it? - Yeah.
We're straight. All right, I'm going to start counting, okay?
- We all right? - Yeah.
Okay, I'm counting.
One, two...
three, four, five...
six, seven...
eight, nine, ten.
You got it straight now? Everything okay?
Everything's fine.
Woodward!
We got it.
- He confirmed. - What happened?
I said if I get up to 10 and you don't hang up, it's solid.
- Did he confirm it? - Absolutely.
We've got to tell Bradlee!
Bernstein got another source. The guy at Justice confirmed.
If there's any doubt, we can run it tomorrow.
You don't have to. The story's solid. We're sure of it.
I just got off the phone with him. It's gold.
Okay, we go with it.
Woodstein!
- You know what it's about? - No.
Sloan, who resigned as campaign treasurer...
after the Watergate break-in...
showed up for a deposition in the common-cause suit on...
disclosure of campaign contributions, and denied naming Haldeman.
Mr. Sloan, would you care to comment on testimony before the Grand Jury?
I'd like my attorney to answer that question.
Gentlemen, the answer is an unequivocal "no."
Mr. Sloan did not implicate Mr. Haldeman in that testimony at all.
It is in his testimony that Mr. Sloan acknowledged...
- that it was an espionage fund? - No, not at all.
Did he mention any use of funds for espionage activity?
None, whatsoever. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you.
Sloan expanded his denial to include his statements to the FBI...
and to all federal authorities. A short time later at the White House...
News Secretary Ronald Ziegler delivered a strong attack...
on the Washington Post.
Why is the Post trying to do it? You have a man...
who is the editor of the Washington Post by the name of Ben Bradlee.
I think anyone who would want to honestly assess...
what his political persuasions are, would...
I think come to the conclusion, quite quickly...
that he is not a supporter of President Nixon.
I respect the free press.
I don't respect the type of journalism...
the shabby journalism that is being practiced by the Washington Post.
All I know is that the story that ran this morning...
is incorrect and it's been so...
stated as being incorrect...
by not only me, but by the individual...
whose Grand Jury, secret Grand Jury testimony...
they based their story on.
And that individual has denied that he ever so testified.
No sooner had Ziegler finished, than the President's campaign manager...
Clark MacGregor, met with reporters.
Using innuendo...
third-person hearsay...
unsubstantiated charges, anonymous sources...
and huge, scare headlines...
the Post has maliciously sought to give the appearance...
of a direct connection between the White House and the Watergate.
A charge which the Post knows...
and half a dozen investigations have found to be false.
The hallmark of the Post campaign is hypocrisy...
and its celebrated double standard is today visible for all to see.
I'm not talking to you about Haldeman or anybody else.
- Then what went wrong? - Nothing.
Just tell us what went wrong?
Didn't you say that the FBI had the information on Haldeman in the files?
- No. - Because we have it in the notes...
from the conversation we had on the telephone right here.
We have to go talk to your boss if you don't talk to us.
What the hell are you talking about? I'll deny everything.
We're not trying to get anybody into trouble.
We're just trying to find out if we made some errors.
If we made a mistake, then we'll come off the story.
Just tell us if we're wrong. Tell us if we screwed up.
I'm not talking about it.
I am not talking to you about Haldeman or anybody else.
In fact, I can't even be seen talking to either one of you bastards.
- What are you afraid of? Who got to you? - Are we being set up?
- Are we, Joe? Tell us! - Are we being set up?
- Just tell us, we won't print it. - Fuck you.
And fuck you!
Honest to God, I just don't know.
- Oh, I see. - It's in the notes!
Yeah, we had another call on a long list and I've got another call, I've gotta go.
- Did you mean Bob Haldeman? - Yeah, Bob Haldeman.
Jesus, what was our mistake?
Maybe there was no mistake.
Then they're just setting us up. Then the whole thing was a set-up?
And they just hung us.
More denunciations. You'll have to make a statement, Ben.
One senator just gave a speech slurring us 57 times in 20 minutes.
I knew we had enemies, but I didn't know we were this popular.
Wow, look at this.
My non-denial denial.
Fuck it, let's stand by the boys.
Okay. Foreign?
All right, here's our headline.
Radio Hanoi reports the United States-North Vietnam agreement...
for a settlement of the Vietnam War.
Woodward, what did you find out? What'd he say?
What time is it?
- You fell asleep? - God damn it!
Over here.
You let Haldeman slip away.
Yes.
You've done worse than let Haldeman slip away.
You've got people feeling sorry for him. I didn't think that was possible.
In a conspiracy like this...
you build from the outer edges and you go step by step.
If you shoot too high and miss, everybody feels more secure.
- You put the investigation back months. - Yes, we know that.
And if we're wrong, we're resigning.
Were we wrong?
You'll have to find that out, won't you?
Listen, I'm tired of your chicken-shit games!
I don't want hints.
I need to know what you know.
It was a Haldeman operation.
The whole business was run by Haldeman, the money, everything.
It won't be easy getting at him. He was insulated. You'll have to find out how.
Mitchell started doing covert stuff before anyone else.
The list is longer than anyone can imagine.
It involves the entire U.S. Intelligence community...
FBI...
CIA, Justice. It's incredible.
The cover-up had little to do with Watergate.
It was mainly to protect the covert operations.
It leads everywhere.
Get out your notebook. There's more.
Your lives are in danger.
Hi, I finally got Sloan on the phone.
Why the hell didn't you tell me over the phone?
- Woodward says phones aren't safe. - Can't trust them.
- Come on in. - We can't come in, sir.
Woodward says there's electronic surveillance.
- Surveillance? Who's doing it? - It's being done.
People's lives are in danger. Maybe even ours.
What happened to that Justice source of yours?
I guess I made the instructions too complicated.
Because he thought I said "hang up" when I just said "hang on."
- Oh, Jesus! - The story is right.
Haldeman was the fifth name to control that fund...
- and Sloan would've told the Grand Jury. - Sloan wanted to tell the Jury.
- Why didn't he? - Because nobody asked.
Nobody asked him.
The cover-up had little to do with the break-in.
It was to protect covert operations and the covert activities...
involving the entire U.S. Intelligence community.
Did Deep Throat say that people's lives are in danger?
Yes.
- What else did he say? - He said everyone is involved.
You know the results of the latest Gallup Poll?
Half the country never even heard of the word "Watergate."
Nobody gives a shit.
You guys are probably pretty tired, right?
You should be. Go on home.
Get a nice hot bath, rest up 15 minutes...
then get your asses back in gear.
We're under a lot of pressure, you know, and you put us there.
Nothing's riding on this except the First Amendment of the Constitution...
freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country.
Not that any of that matters...
but if you guys fuck up again, I'm going to get mad.
Goodnight.
And now, fellow Americans...
the Honorable Chief Justice will administer the oath of office...
to the President of the United States of America.
Mr. Chief Justice.
Mr. President, are you ready to take the constitutional oath?
If you will place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand...
and please repeat after me. "I, Richard Nixon, do solemnly swear...
"...that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States...
- "...and will, to the best of my ability... - "...and will, to the best of my ability...
"...preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States...
"...preserve and protect and defend the Constitution of the United States...
- "...so help me, God." - "...so help me, God."