What is Watergate?

Watergate scandal

The political scandal after the illegal activities of the United States * * and the party government in the 1972 presidential election were exposed. 1972 June 17, five people, led by J.M. McChord, a member of R.M. Nixon's campaign team, were arrested when they sneaked into the headquarters of the Democratic Party in Washington Watergate Building to install a bug. In the first few months, under the cover of the planner, the defendant always denied that anyone else was involved in the matter. In June of the same year 165438+ 10, Nixon was re-elected by an overwhelming margin. On March 23rd, 1973, J. Sirica, the judge of the Washington District Court who accepted the case, published a letter from McCord who was threatened with severe punishment. McChord said that he and other defendants pleaded guilty under political pressure and remained silent. In fact, both the White House and the re-election committee were involved in Watergate. On April 30th, Nixon was forced to announce that E. Richardson would succeed the former Attorney General, and agreed that he would appoint A. Cox as the special prosecutor to handle the case at the request of the Senate. During this period, the Senate, with a democratic majority, established the Watergate Committee headed by Democrat S. Owen on February 7. From May 17, the committee held a series of hearings, exposing many illegal acts since the Nixon administration took office. 16 July ago, White House staff revealed that all conversations in the Oval Office were recorded. On July 23rd, Irving Committee and Cox asked Nixon to hand over nine tapes, but Nixon refused on the grounds of "administrative privilege". At Cox's insistence, Judge Sirica and the District Court of Appeal ordered Nixon to obey. In June 5438+10, Nixon asked Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson resigned angrily. Later, although Cox was removed from office, it immediately aroused national anger, and many people asked Congress to consider impeaching the president. With the development of the case, the call for the president to resign and impeach is getting louder and louder.

At the beginning of 1974, Nixon refused to cooperate after handing over several tapes handed over by the new special prosecutor L. Jaworski. From May of 15, the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives also seized various White House documents and 105 tapes, but Nixon still resisted. On July 24th, the Federal Supreme Court announced its support for Javos' request for 64 tapes. One of them recorded a conversation between the President and the White House Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman, at1June 23, 972, and confirmed that Nixon had instructed the latter to let the CIA prevent the FBI from participating in the Watergate investigation. This shows that Nixon not only participated in the cover-up, but also abused his power and obstructed judicial work, and could be impeached. On July 30th, the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives submitted three impeachment clauses to the House of Representatives based on the collected evidence. The first and second clauses accused Nixon of obstructing judicial work and abusing his power, which were supported by both parties.