Watergate
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Hello, little Rammies. We've never done an intro like that. Do you guys know why we say Ram? I don't think anyone does. Why do you have Rams for your mascot? Well, right. R. Answers. A. Mostly. M. Ram. Ram. Rammies. For. Life. Life. So welcome.

Good to see everyone again. Have you been singing Whitney Houston in your head all weekend? Week? I have. I have as well. We still need to watch The Bodyguard. We haven't watched The Bodyguard yet. Have no fret. We will. Everyone should. Everyone should. I mean, come on, Kevin Costner. Oof.

And Whitney. What more do you need? It is hot in here. Yes, we are actually wearing blazers. I was actually like, I am very hot. You can take them off if you want. No, no, no. Anything for the art? Anything for the art. We are wearing blazers today to be professional and presidential. Why, Claire? Because you guys have given me the damn task of covering Watergate.

Oh, man. When I tell you that every time I have thought about doing my research for Watergate, the Jaws theme song has started playing in my head. Really? Dun-dun, dun-dun. Just because of the terror of it all? It's just so much. Like, it's so... How dare you guys vote for this? Well, I told Claire that, honestly, like, I was very attracted to her that she chose to do this and that she had the courage to dive into it because... Thank you.

Anything political would make me just feel very overwhelmed and insecure, and you've done it with nothing but grace and sexiness. Oh, thank you. Tears in my eyes for the sexiness. But I will say that our title of our podcast will probably never apply more than in this episode of Bright Answers Most.

That is what the people come here for. Thank you. Yeah, it was a lot. I have texted. I texted my aunt a lot for clarification. My mom's in town visiting. Shout out to you, Cindy. Love you, Sydney. And we were doing research last night and I had to ask her so many questions like, so what does this mean?

She's like, you idiot. What is a Republican? Well, idiot. Oh, sorry. I've already offended half of our viewers. I actually, I don't think there's that. Guys, DM us and tell us your political party. We want to know. We want to know. We're curious. You know, live your truth. Yeah, but we just want to, yeah, safe space. Kind of. Yes, no safe space.

The looks. So it was kind of a lot, and I already told Tess on the way over here, if there's a part where I am not making sense, please stop me and be like, clarification. I will be aware of it. Oh, also, well, a few things. First, we're drinking beer.

Just like a bunch of white politicians do. White bros. The bros love the beer. Yes. In the White House. In the White House, that's true. We also were discussing what to drink and our content producer, Allison Gamble, sent us a little excerpt. That was Allison, not you, right? That sent that? Yeah, yeah, it was Allison. Saying that apparently Nixon loved expensive red wine but made sure his guests had like, what, shitty stuff?

Yeah, he would just get the good stuff for himself. And like serve his guests barefoot. Are we shocked? Oh, barefoot. Yikes. No, we're not shocked. But I've, in honor of that, have also brought like a $10 bottle of red wine. Perfect. That'll be switching off. So real quick, do you know, what are your thoughts about Watergate? What do you know? I have pretty much forgotten everything that I knew once about it, much like most of these topics when you asked me this question. Yeah.

I know that it led to the resignation of Nixon. And I know that it was something of people coming in and stealing shit. Yep. Oh, yeah. Like the bling ring, you could say. Oh, the bling ring. Washington. Washington version. Washington bling ring. But that's really it. Yeah. Well, also, it's like, I don't really know if we learned. I don't really. I mean, we probably learned this. I don't really remember it.

We did learn this in my junior year history class. Shout out to Steve Fogue. He was very passionate about Watergate and he would like to do this whole reenactment. He was very theatrical. But once again, I don't recall. I would love to see it. We'll write a play on Watergate and reenact it afterwards. Maybe we should. Yeah. Tickets will be sold at our website. Make sure to check in. It's going to be very dramatic and wonderful. Can't wait. But so I guess we'll just...

We'll take this journey together. Don't be scared. I'm so scared. Be brave. Be brave, Claire. I'll be brave and bold. Do it for this country. I will. And I'll be truthful, unlike Nixon.

Oh, man. Yeah. So, okay. Also, that's what I was going to say as well. I have printed out a chart for Tess that has everyone that we're talking about with a picture next to them because there's a lot of white dudes' names and it can get confusing. So when I tell you the guy's name, I will probably...

back it up with what their job is and hopefully you'll be able to although like the jobs are pointless to me because I have no idea what like what's a national security advisor do I'm scared to say this but one of them is very hot Bob Woodward yes can fucking get it oh god he's a good guy in our story okay good I'm not sure he's a lot actually I'm kind of attracted to a lot of them but it's been a weird week so

In their own ways. And as always, check out our Instagram at Right Answers Mostly. We will have pictures that you can follow along as well. The visuals help the story. They absolutely do. So without further ado, let's just do it. Take it away. Take it away. So Watergate was one of the most, if not the most, serious political scandal in American history. That statement also might have been written before Trump was in office. And there are a lot of parallels. Oh. Lots of parallels. I mean, yeah.

How can you compare? Yeah, it's crazy. So when a failed break-in attempt to the Democratic National Committee headquarters, an attempted cover-up resulted in the only resignation of a U.S. president, Richard Nixon. Wow. Yeah. So. Little Dickie. Little Dickie. There he is. There he is. The past. So Watergate scandal wasn't actually the start of Nixon's downfall. Right.

On June 13th, 1971, also Nixon came in after Johnson. Johnson was after Kennedy, the Kennedy assassination. But Johnson actually decided not to run for president again because they were getting too deep into the Vietnam War. And he was like, I no longer can do this job and I will not run again. He's like, this is not fun. Yeah.

Yeah. Like, actually, which also, like, I respect him for knowing his boundaries. I always forget about Lil' Johnson. Oh, yeah. He had a really great start and a really tough finish because of the Vietnam War. Johnson and Johnson. Johnson and Johnson. Full circle. Yeah. Why didn't we talk about Johnson and Johnson? Huh? Why didn't we talk about Johnson? Nothing. I just have been thinking about it recently. Oh.

Full circle in your life. Thinking about my booster shot? Oh, yes. Yes, of course, of course. Sorry. No. She digresses. So on June 13th, 1971, the New York Times began publishing these things called the Pentagon Papers.

which the Pentagon Papers proved that several presidential administrations from 1954 to 1967 had lied to the public in Congress about the nation's involvement in Vietnam. So from Truman to Kennedy to Johnson, these men and their administrations had deliberately deceived the American people by escalating the Vietnam War while publicly stating the opposite.

Shady as hell. So shady. Like, just lies after lies. And I feel like they just kept getting more into it and then would pass it on to the other guy. So what were their public statements about it? Being like, we're trying to get out of this thing. You know, we don't want to be there. And then actually you're bombing people and being...

sticking our noses in places we don't belong. Oh, damn. Okay. So they wanted to like placate to the. Yeah. And then trying to being like to public, it's like, no, we're good. We're good. And then things would come out a year later. The public would get mad. I texted my aunt. Um, cause she was very involved in politics her whole life. And,

I was like, what is the Vietnam War? And honestly, like, I'm not going to explain it now, but we could do a six-parter. It's just disgusting. What were people's feelings on the Vietnam, like, what was the majority? Well, this was the time of, like,

And so a lot of the youth, because we were just sending thousands and thousands and thousands of men over there and they were dying for no reason. So at this point with Nixon, people were ready for the war to be over. Got it. So the Pentagon Papers didn't touch Nixon's administration at all.

But Henry, so they didn't say anything about Nixon and his Vietnam actions. But Henry Kissinger, Nixon's national security advisor, was extremely concerned and convinced Nixon that the media is going to come for our secrets because they're out there. Got it. So Nixon's paranoia begins. And this man was so paranoid all the time. Like, absolutely.

Like he thought people were going to kill him. Always out to get him. They're always out to... Well, also, if you have a lot of secrets, maybe you would be paranoid. Yeah, that is true. It comes from somewhere, doesn't it? It sure does. And he... So Nixon, you know, his paranoia begins because the leak happened under his presidency. He thought his own Vietnam secrets would come out, like how he secretly and illegally ordered bombing in Laos and Cambodia. Right.

So we had a deal with Cambodia that like he would not do that. He did it. He didn't have Congress's permission to bomb Cambodia. So he did it covertly. And he kept telling the people that we I'm going to be the president in the war. And technically he wasn't sending more troops over, but he was expanding the war geographically.

Oh, God. It's so gross. And also it's like he was doing the thing of like, don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness. Well, it only applies to some things in life, doesn't it? Maybe one thing. Maybe you should ask for permission first. How about the war? Yeah, exactly. So his first move was to try to stop the New York Times from publishing any more of the reports. But the New York Times were like, no, I'm going to keep publishing things and air out your dirty laundry. Yeah.

And which causes the Nixon administration to take legal action. And the case goes all the way up to Supreme Court. In the case of the New York Times versus the United States in 1971, the Supreme Court ultimately cited against the president. Really? Yeah. And they were like, no, I mean, it's freedom of speech. Well, also, like you can't.

What would he expect? You know, the news has to come out. Yeah. Well, Nixon expected everything to go his way and it's his way or the highway. And we'll see that white men. Yeah. White men. And that's the agility. Oh God. It's so fragile. Yeah.

Okay, so they were like, great, we can't stop them this way. How do we respond to the continued release of the Pentagon Papers? I mean, maybe they could just stop doing shady shit. That could be an idea. Right. Wow, so many parallels to Trump already. I'm just thinking about that. Yeah, oh yeah, just wait. But they were like, no, we're not going to do that. So Bob Haldeman...

which is the White House chief of staff suggests that blackmail is a great next step. Good. Yeah. That's always a nice thing to do and a problem solver. So there's a rumor that there's this file in this place called the Brookings Institution and the file had

secrets that Johnson had done in Vietnam, like really bad things. There's a rumor that this file exists. They've never seen it before. They don't know if it's true, but they were like, if we get our hands on these papers, we can blackmail Johnson into publicly disputing the Pentagon papers and making them look illegitimate. Oh God. Yeah. They're like, we have this on you. So you have to say these are fake or we're going to put out even more bad stuff on you. Um, and yeah,

Nixon was like, yes, love that idea. Let's blackmail. Let's do it. Let's do it. Come on, girl. Yeah, exactly. Nixon orders him to act out the Houston Plan, which was created by this White House aide who was like this 30-year-old guy who everyone made fun of because I think he was like kind of loser-y and crazy. Yeah.

It's so sad. But Nixon liked him because Nixon, because he came up with a plan that called for using illegal break-ins, wiretaps, and mail openings against domestic liberal terrorists. Okay, so this man was really out of his goddamn mind. Out of his mind. And Nixon was like, do the Houston plan, but for this situation, and break into the place and steal the files. Kissinger...

who, let's go back, is the National Security Advisor, suggests like maybe we just go to the building and ask for those files. Knock, knock, knock. Yeah. Can I borrow those for a second? I just need to blackmail someone for like a day and I'll bring them back. And Nixon says, I want it implemented on a thievery basis. God damn it. Get in and get those files, blow the safe and get it. So this is not even Watergate and Nixon's already saying steal something. Right.

Oh, God. To blackmail a former president. Wow. Yeah. Now, so we just have to say that is the only time Nixon is caught on tape ordering a break-in. Okay? Okay. It's the only time that we, and we can play that. We can maybe add this audio clip in. If it's in, you're welcome. If it's not, we didn't get around to it. Ooh. But we have the recordings. We do. Oh, we do. I mean, I want it implemented on a deeper basis. God damn, get in. Get in.

Okay, so they didn't end up breaking into the Brookings Institution, which is good because those files actually didn't exist. Oh. It was just a rumor and they didn't. And before they even did that anyways, a man named Daniel Ellsberg came out and admitted that he was the one leaking the papers, like leaking the information to the New York Times.

So in June 1971, Nixon redirects his attention to him. He's his next victim. And on July 24th, 1971, there's this group of men that come together and they're later known as the Plumbers since their main goal was to stop any and all leaks.

The plumbers. That should be our new group name. The plumbers. It's like, let's come up with like a sexy name for ourselves. The plumbers. And like cute overalls. Yeah, exactly. Like no bra. Exactly. And so the plumbers were made, they were led by this guy, if we can pull up our pictures. Mm-hmm.

G. Gordon Liddy, who was the head of the plumbers, and Howard Hunt, who was also the head of the plumbers, and they were both former CIA employees.

So they were into this secret spy shit. I'm strangely attracted to Gordon. I don't know why. It's the mustache. Yeah. No, I understand it. It's like a Tom Selleck kind of vibe. Yes, totally, totally. Yes, I understand. You know that I will never be offended by you saying you're attracted to anyone because I'm attracted to everyone. Thank you. I mean, he probably looks like he's in his 60s, but you know. You guys will see for yourselves and you can decide. We'll do a poll. Yes. Hot or not. Okay.

So they were both the head of the plumbers. And yeah, their main goal was to make sure that nothing got out of the White House. And the first and also to go get other information on people. Okay.

So the first action the plumbers took was when Liddy and Hunt flew to Los Angeles and burglarized Daniel Ellsberg, who is the guy who leaked the information to the New York Times. They burglarized, that's a hard word, they broke into his psychiatrist's office to find files on him and see if there was any dirt on him or anything embarrassing. How mean. How mean.

Super mean girl. So, yeah, like actually being like, we're going to find your biggest insecurity and reveal it. Yeah, like, are you insane? Are you? Oh, you have depression? They actually did that. He's like, I need those. My serotonin's irregular. So they broke into the office. They find his files and realized there was no damning info. So they just leave the open file on the floor and go out.

Idiots with their fingerprints all over it. I don't know. I'm sure that that would be so haunting of you, that psychiatrist and walk into your office and a file's open. She's like, I'm literally just trying to treat people to help them. And then you have another session with that same client. You're just like,

Yeah. Someone might have broken and stolen your info. Haunting. Haunting. Also, like, what do you think they found in there that, like, wasn't damning enough? Yeah, they're like, eh, he's kind of sad most days, but who isn't? He has mommy issues. We got it. Okay. So nothing they could use against him. I just imagine them going through the files and just throwing them, like, this one doesn't work and this one doesn't work. And they're like, should we pick that up? Nah. No.

Also, like so typical men just being like, yeah, guys, just put things back where you found them. Yeah. Why do men, they don't even have that thought. No, they really don't. Not to not everyone, but most of them. But most of them. And I would say like leaving cabinets open, but I have taken on that habit. That's neither here nor there. Sorry, Corey. We'll get into that later. We all have our quirks. Yeah, exactly. It makes us cute. Exactly.

Oh, God. I'm like headbutting the microphone. So as the Pentagon Papers controversy dies down, Nixon shifts his paranoia from the leaks to the upcoming presidential election. So, yeah. So he is, you know, I want to get reelected. I'm going to put my attention there. So the CRP was created, which is the Committee for the Re-election of the Presidents.

We're going to be talking about the CRP a lot. Committee for the Re-election for the President. CRP. CRP. And it was formed to help fundraise for the President's re-election campaign. But they had much shadier intentions. Sure. These are the shadiest group of men I've ever met in my life. Not Liddy. Oh, yeah, Liddy. That mustache held secrets like you wouldn't believe. Wow. So on January 1972, Hunt and Liddy, the head of our plumbers...

are transferred from the Special Investigations Unit to the CRP, which is kind of like, why do you need two investigation guys in the committee to reelect the president? Already, I'm like, why? Oh, interesting. Did they do that undercover? I think that it was public information that they were transferred over. Yeah, and I mean, yeah, why would you need that? So Liddy comes up with a plan to gather intelligence on the Democratic Party.

And this is called Operation Gemstone, which involves forgery. Again, this is a lot like the Houston plan. Forgery, wiretap, and burglary. It is a hard one. I think if you say it slower, and then that always helps me. Burglary. Wow. Yeah. That was gorgeous. It was stunning. Thank you so much. I had a speech impediment until a seven, so. I still have one, so. Okay.

It's a good reminder to slow down. Okay. So they, um, to gather information about prominent Democrats, financial status and sexual tendencies. Those were the two things that they, that in my research also shout out to the podcast, political scandals. So helpful.

But yeah, sexual tendencies. Like their sexuality? I think their sexuality, which, you know, this is the 70s. So if anyone... They're just trying to out men. Yeah, exactly. Which I'm sure all of these men had. Yeah, whatever. Everyone's a little gay. Everyone's a little gay. That's what... There it is. Thank you. To quote Claire. To quote Honey Boo Boo.

So that's like what Operation Gemstone was. Get in, wiretap Democrats, steal things, and spy on them to rat them out. Why does it always go to sex? I know. It's like, I just feel like if you're so obsessed, which we are. Which we are. What's that say about you? But it's like, well, you need to know about other people. Like, why? Yeah, it's very...

Just relax. Just relax. We all have it. Yeah, we all have it. It's fine. It's how you got here. It's great. So let's see. Operation Gemstone. Yes. Super illegal, obviously. Right. But Nixon's attorney general, this guy with the pipe, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.

His name's John Mitchell. He approves this plan. He's like, love these ideas. Let's do it. Of course he does. That dirty little dog. That dirty little dog. Look at his stupid little face. Yeah, no. So let's just remember that John Mitchell approved Operation Gemstone. Got it.

Led by Liddy and Hunt. Okay. Okay. So this marked, oh, this is a quote by John Dean, who we'll hear later. He says, this marked after the approval of Operation Gemstone. I'm actually going to say the quote now. Yes. This marks the opening scene of the worst political scandal of the 20th century and the beginning of the end for the Nixon presidency. Okay.

I'm not surprised. Not surprised because that's really not cool. Yeah, no. It's not a great way to start with positive vibes. Yeah, of your future presidential thing. You're just a liar and a cheat. Okay. So on May 28th, 1972, operatives working for Liddy began breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters, which were located in the

and the Watergate complex in D.C. So it's like this big thing. It has like offices and like restaurants. And it's like the row downtown. Kind of. It's like Watergate. Chic. Yeah, chic. And that's where the Democratic National Committee headquarters were located. So this is the first time I break in, May 28th. Once they got entry, they bugged the DNC chairman and the state Democratic chairman's phones.

so violating. Like it makes me uncomfortable thinking someone's bugging my phone. Oh, I know. It's so gross. It is really gross. So they report the next day that it had been a semi-success because one of the wiretaps had failed. But Liddy was like, no sweat. We did it the first time. We'll do it again. We'll go in. We'll try it again. Good. Yeah. Don't do it again. Where would that came from? Yeah. Please. I could go all day. Gross. Wiretap everyone.

So on June 17th, 1972, they go in again. They have five men breaking in and they have a guy at a hotel across the street who was surveying for them because he could see the windows like from his window. So he could watch and make sure that no one else was in the building. And Liddy and Howard were actually in the building as well, but a safe distance from the other break-ins kind of surveying as well.

Sometime after midnight, a Watergate complex security guard noticed tape covering the latches of some of the complex's doors leading from the underground parking garage to several offices, which allowed the door to close but stay unlocked. Okay. So he removed the tape believing it was nothing, which it's like you find multiple tape, you might want to think it's something. Right. Like this feels a little scary. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

He didn't have a woman's intuition. And there it is. There it is. But when he returned a short time later, he discovered that someone had re-taped the locks. And he's like, huh? I'll rip it off again. Well, luckily for everyone, he called the police. Oh, good. Yeah. So unmarked police cars responded to the calls with three officers working the overnight in quotes bum squad, which is where they dress as hippies and were on the lookout for drug deals.

The 70s was such a crazy time. Such a crazy time. So they were the closest one to the scenes. They're like, we got it. We'll check out the Watergate headquarters. An unmarked police car dressed as hippies. So the guy... Oh, my God. The guy on lookout at the hotel across the street...

At this moment, when the cops pulled up, was distracted watching the film Attack of the Puppet People on TV. Back to puppets, full circle. Timmy Faye Baker, he was watching 700 Club. I was scared you were going to say something like that. Yeah, well, so Attack of the Puppet People, never seen it. Maybe we'll check it out after this. Maybe we should, after Bodyguard. Yeah, exactly. Movie night. Movie night. And so he failed to see the arrival of the police car in front of the Watergate building. He also missed the cops investigating the DNC's sixth floor of Suite B.

suite of 29 offices. By the time he finally noticed unusual activity on the sixth floor, it was probably a commercial break from Attack of the Puppet People, he radioed the burglars of all things. He's probably so humiliated. He's like, oh, what's

not over there. Yeah. So it was already too late. So the cops break in and pull out their guns. The cops dress as hippies, break in, pull out their guns to find five men in business suits with surgical gloves and

Just imagine the scene right now. Cops dress up as hippies, break into a room of men with business suits and gloves. So dark. It's so... Like medical gloves? Yes, like latex gloves. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Um, they, on them, they had bugging devices, rolls of film, tear gas pins, thousands of dollars in consecutively numbered hundred dollar bills, which that is important, I guess, because it helps you keep track of it. Like if I gave you, if I had a multiple hundred dollar bills to give you, they wouldn't be in consecutive order. So that's already like a little shady. Interesting. Yeah. Um,

And address books with the name Howard Hunt, who is one of our leaders of the plumber's unit. This man I'm not attracted to. No, he looks like an elf. Is he drinking a cocktail? As he's giving testimony, I would. Yeah, it looks like he has like a little carcass out, you could say. Yeah, I think he might. He might. So that's not good that his name is already there. Yeah, so...

The five burglars gave fake names and refused to speak further. So they had no idea this had to do with the Nixon administration at this point. Oh, what do you think they were told? I think that they were probably like, why are you here? And they're like, we're not saying anything. Like they, it could have been anyone at that point. It could have just been people trying to break in to steal money. Yeah. Yeah. So the Washington Post reports a GOP after all this happens a few days later.

It could have been longer than a few days. It doesn't matter. So the Washington Post reports that a GOP security aide, James McCord, was one of the Watergate burglars. James McCord. Where are you? There he is. So James McCord is a GOP security aide and also a Watergate burglar. So that makes people raise their eyes a little bit. Like, why is he there at the Democratic National Headquarters? Right. Mm-hmm.

Former Attorney General John Mitchell. Now try to say that sentence five times fast. He's now the head of Nixon's re-election campaign, denies any link to the operation. He said McCord was not operating on our behalf or with our consent. I just want to remind you, he literally approved Operation Gemstone like a month before.

Wow. But he comes out to the public and is like, we don't know this man. Yep. Isn't there a TikTok? Or isn't Kiki Palmer's like, I'm sorry, I do not know this man. I don't know. Did it become a thing? Probably. It always does. It always does. So on June 19th, Liddy admits to White House counsel that,

John Dean, who's right here. Not a bad looking dude. Honestly, he looks like Alexander Skarsgård. Great casting. Great casting. So he, Liddy, who's the head of the plumbers, admits to White House counsel John Dean that the break-in was his and Hunt's operation and that they were under pressure from the CRP leadership to get compromising info on the Democrats. Oh, so the...

Someone breaks up at some point. Yeah, they're already starting to break. So then John Dean and Liddy get together with John Mitchell and Jeb Magruder, who is the deputy director of their reelection campaign. All you need to know about these guys really is that they worked very close with Nixon. Okay. Okay. So they get together and to brainstorm ways to cover up the committee's involvement with Watergate. They're like, okay, that didn't go well, but we could still salvage ourselves. Yeah.

Um, Magruder calls his office and has operation, the operation gemstone files destroyed, shred them up. They were never here. So the plan to break into Watergate, make sure those are gone and no one will ever see them again. Hmm. Very shady. Very shady. Also like do people make copies? Yeah.

Well, good question. But I guess it's like probably not so many copies and it's not like technology where it's on the cloud these days. No, I know. Like I was just thinking about back in this time, it was like a paper had so much more power and weight to it. Now it's like you have something that you could destroy on your laptop, but it's still somewhere. And the cloud. It's so true. And so it's like gone now. Yeah, yeah. Crazy. So, okay. So...

While these guys are all busy trying to destroy records of any of this ever happening, Nixon was kind of doing the opposite and creating more evidence against themselves.

With every conversation that he had, he was doing this. So I didn't know this. Since FDR, every president has recorded important White House conversations on tape, which seems probably smart. Yeah. You know, just want to go over things. So they have something in the White House that they can hit record and record important conversations. They're like, how do you press this? That's what we were like earlier setting up this recording. That's true. Lord, let's hope this works. Yeah, me too.

So Nixon's administration was the third. Yeah. Nixon's White House system was the first to be voice activated, which meant nearly all chats in the Oval Office were recorded. So once he started talking, things were starting to started recording. And he knew this. He knew this. He had this installed because he was paranoid that the press and other politicians would misrepresent him.

How ironic. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Like he's so paranoid. It's like believe in yourself a little bit more, but he couldn't. That's why he had to cheat. Interesting. Look internally and deal with those demons. So on June 20th, 19. So just, okay. So now that sucks for him. So every conversation he has from like his time is recorded. Yeah.

So on June 20th, 1972 was the first recorded instance of Nixon discussing Watergate. Haldeman, who's Haldeman again? Oh, he's the White House chief of staff. So Haldeman and Nixon spoke of the controversy that morning, but the conversation was later lost when the tape was recorded over.

So they knew. They immediately had that talk and they were like, now we have to cover this. And although many have their suspicions, there is no proof that Nixon had any direct involvement to Watergate prior to this meeting.

So they're saying that, and this is what Nixon will try to say till the end, is that it was all of the people around him, but he had no idea about this. Oh, of course, because that's totally what happens when you're president. Yeah, exactly. It's like literally all of your advisors are playing something. And up for re-election. Yeah. They think he did it, but they just can't prove it.

It's like my head the whole time. We need to learn how to harmonize. Oh, we do. We'll get that for the next one. Yeah, yeah. We won't try now. But you wish we would. So a few days later, the Washington Post was the first newspaper to report that Howard's name was discovered at the crime scene and that Hunt was directly connected to the White House. So how the hell did they get this info? How did they get that?

Well, no one knew at the time that our sexy little mink's Bob Woodward. Oh, hubba hubba. Why is he so hot? He's played by Robert Redford and all the President's Men, which like, of course. Was he known for being hot? I don't know. Good question. But if he wasn't, what a shame. He's literally like so sexy. He is so sexy. The way he's looking off to the side. Oof. Oof. So anyway, I know, fanning myself off. Oh, God. So no one knew at the time, but Bob Woodward got his information from a secret FBI source codenamed...

Deep throat. Why? I don't know. Like, please someone explain it to me. Why is this a bunch of these like stupid men being like, yeah, blowjob. Like, let's like incorporate that into this. It's like, we must bring it in.

Like, actually. So gross. And also, it's like Bob Woodward is probably like, oh, hey, man. So, like, what should I quote you? It's your name being like deep throat. Oh, my God. So, deep throat. His true identity was not revealed until years later. And it was Mark Feltz, who was deputy director of the FBI. So, at the time, the FBI was doing their own investigation on Watergate, which

And Mark Felt kept finding out all of this information and he could see where this was going and he could see that this was connected to the White House. However, he knew that if he presented this information to the attorney general, who was super tight with Nixon, they weren't going to let him do anything about it. And he was like, this is unjust. Wow. So he's like, the only way that the people can find out the truth about this is if I tell the press. Wow.

Which is very Trump too. Like, yeah. Like people revealing secrets because he's doing so much shady shit and he has all these men covering for him. So justice could never be served.

Circle back to the Kennedy, Ted Kennedy scandal. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. People being scared of these powerful men and just blindly following them. Exactly. And doing terrible crimes to do that. So Bob Woodward in Deep Throat would meet often and Deep Throat would tell him, take a drink every time I say Deep Throat, Deep Throat, would tell him all this information.

So as far as we know, Nixon isn't really involved with Watergate until June 23rd. And another meeting with Haldeman, who is the White House chief of staff and super involved with Watergate, suggests that Nixon put pressure on the FBI to stop investigating the Watergate break-ins. Nixon tells Haldeman to tell the FBI to stop. Could you just do me a favor? Just go to them and just say, like, no. He... Yeah. And he... Yeah. He...

Also, yeah, sorry, I'm getting crazy, but it's crazy. It's a lot. So he also mentions to Nixon that there might be a direct money trail to the CRP and the burglars. It's like, oh, also that.

So then Nixon insisted that Haldeman tell the FBI to not go further into this case, period. And I quote, to stay the hell out of this business. To the FBI? That actually makes me want to go more into it. Like, bitch, I'm going to go further than you ever believed. Like, seriously, can you imagine someone being like, hey, Nixon said to stay the hell out of it. Don't tell it to the FBI. No. It's like literally their job. That's what gets them off. Yeah. Exactly. It's like what they're there for. Yeah.

But Nixon was like, it clearly won't be obvious that we had anything to do with it until it's stayed the hell out. Oh, Jesus. We're just getting crazier here. I just moved to red wine. Yeah, you need it. Okay, so...

Meanwhile, some other shit is going down. John Mitchell, pipe guy, former attorney general, head of the reelection campaign. His wife was named Martha Mitchell. We have a picture of Martha as well. She looks like a piece of work. Yeah. Well, so Martha was actually a larger than life blonde woman from Arkansas. Oh, you should be here for Halloween. Oh my God. Well, Tess, listen to this.

who was said to drink a little too much and talk a little too much. Like that is my Instagram bio. If I ever change it right now, change it right now, right now. So Martha, I mean, you guys will see her and be like, Oh yeah, piece of work. She looks like what they would describe as a pill, right? Totally. I'm trying to think who would play her in a movie. Oh God, who would?

I almost feel like Laura Linney could play her. Yes, yes, yes. In a crazy way? She seems a little crazy. She also notoriously would get drunk and call reporters and tell them the inside scoop. She's like, I just want to tell you something. They're like, ma'am, please stop calling. It's 2 a.m. Her husband walks in and is like, are you fucking calling the press again?

She would actually catch her eavesdropping on his calls, send her to their room, and she would sneak out of their room and eavesdrop on the calls. Oh, this woman was so bored. So bored. I like kind of, she's iconic if she didn't hate liberals so much. Oh, so she would talk to the press like she wasn't going against her husband at any point? Well, so here's the thing.

John Mitchell was aware that Martha found out the McCord, who was a White House aide and also one of the Watergate burglars. So he was aware that she found out that he was one of the burglars. And upon finding that out, she was likely to speak to the media because she found, I know Martha, she's like, I can't help myself. She's like, it's just me.

out of me. It's like also maybe quiet down a little bit. Truly. But also not because, you know, justice, we need it. So he, knowing this, has his security instructed guards in her security detail to not let her contact the media at all costs. In June 1972, during a phone call with the United Press, with a United Press reporter, Martha informed that she was leaving her husband until he resigned from the CRP.

because she found out this information. The phone call ended abruptly. Martha Mitchell was not seen or heard from for a few days.

A reporter tracked Martha to a country club in New York and described Martha Mitchell as a beaten woman with visible bruises. Oh, my God. Martha reported that during the week following the Watergate burglary, when she found all this stuff out, she had been held captive and that the security guard ended her call to the reporter by pulling the phone cord from the wall.

Mitchell made several attempts to escape her hotel room, even trying to escape from the balcony, but was physically accosted, injured, and forcefully sedated by Nixon's personal doctor. Some of her story, yeah, some of her story did get out there, but was put in a gossip column so people didn't think it was real. And Nixon officials claimed that Martha had a drinking problem and could not be trusted. You know what it is?

But there's nothing like a mad woman. This episode is sponsored by Taylor Swift. But that's the whole thing I'm thinking about. Like someone that just tries to do the right thing that actually speaks the truth. Absolutely. And then because it's a woman, you can just label her as crazy. Yep. And she's emotional. Absolutely. She's emotional. She's crazy. She can't be trusted. That's so disgusting. Also, remember, her husband ordered this. Mm-hmm. Oh, now I feel bad for talking shit about Martha. I know. I love it.

She's crazy. She's larger than life, and that's why we love her. I mean, I don't know if she was a good person or not. I can't speak for that, but no one deserves that. No, of course not. She was sedated? By Nixon's personal doctor. What does that even mean? Like you just get shot up with something? Yeah, to make you calm down because she was like, I mean, I'm sure she just started talking, and then they were like, oh, no, no more. And then she knew it was bad news bears. One woman tries to do the right thing, and look what happens. And then she's called crazy. Yeah.

So they would stop at nothing to make sure that this information didn't get out. But more connections are emerging between the White House and Watergate. So now their strategy changes from denial to placing full blame on someone. And that someone's going to be Liddy.

It's like a little kid. It just reminds me of kindergarten. Same. The whole time I was doing my research, I was like, I'm researching eight-year-olds. Cool. No. Yeah. It's insane. So Tom Selleck lookalike is going to go down. And he was one of the head. Yeah. Just keep that photo up a little bit longer. Very sexy. So he is, they were like, let's, he's going to be our scapegoat. It's the right word, right? Yeah. So he's our sacrificial lamb.

Liddy is. And so we don't all get into trouble. We'll just say it was him who made it all up. But weren't there worse people? Oh, yeah. I feel like Liddy, like, I mean, yeah. No, there's definitely worse people. But Liddy respected and trusted Nixon so much that he was like, yes, let me be the sacrifice. It's like Regina and Gretchen. Oh, it's so true. It's like Nixon is Regina George. Like truly. She is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Nixon is. He is. He is.

Yeah. So, so he was like, yep, I'll take it down. And he, on June 28th, he was fired from the CRP for refusing to cooperate with the FBI investigation. He was keeping his mouth shut. So the bigger guys were safe. Oh, but on August 1st, the CRP's direct connection to Watergate was revealed to the public when the Washington Post and all these Washington Post stories are all thanks to our, our,

Our sexy little Bob Woodward doing the Lord's work. What was the New York Times doing? Are they like... They were releasing some information too, but Bob Woodward was kind of an underdog. If you watch All the President's Men with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, I highly recommend it. It's fascinating and they're just like Nancy Drew getting the dirty details. I've never seen it. It's so good. I really recommend it. We'll watch it again. Perfect. And everyone watch it after this movie. I mean, after this podcast. What are we doing here?

Life is a movie. It sure is. So the Washington Post ran a story that a $25,000 check made for the Nixon re-election campaign had somehow ended up in one of the Watergate burglars' account. So that's like a little weird. Do it in cash. Well, it's like you guys are such idiots. Literally. You couldn't just let it go with one wiretap. You had to get two and this is what happens. And you can track everything like in your account. This is why we can't have nice. Nice.

Thanks. This is a new installation. Ever since Whitney, we've been singing our podcast. I actually kind of love it. Me too. You guys let us know if you love it or hate it. Yeah, yeah. I've heard that people like to hear us sing. Yeah, I've heard that too. I got feedback. Oh, good. From yourself. No. Oh. Yeah. Okay, I got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wink, wink. Wink, wink.

So that's shish-bishish. But by this time, and this is where I really needed my mom's help to explain these things to me. We always do. We always do. We're never too old to need our mother's help. So by this time, the D.C. U.S. attorney had brought together a grand jury to hear evidence against Watergate. So basically what that means is they brought together a group of people to decide, do we have enough evidence to start charging people?

Not to actually charge them. Do we have enough evidence to start charging people? Right, because it takes so long to even start that process. Yes. So Jeb Magruder, this guy, who was the deputy director of the re-election campaign, was one of the head guys coming up with how to cover up Watergate. He spit lies in his testimony and said that no one in the CRP knew of Liddy's actions.

Oh, Jeb. Jeb. Yep. What a name. What a name. What a sad face. Not bad. Not bad. But it looks sad. Let's rank them. We will. Yeah, at the end. We definitely will. Okay. I can't wait for that. I got to get through all this so we can get to that.

So he's like, we had no idea of Liddy's actions, even though we all agreed that he was going to cover for us. Good God. It's so disorganized. It's so disorganized. On August 30th, Nixon speaks publicly about Watergate at a news conference where Nixon stated that John Dean...

Even though you guys have already been talking about it for years.

trying to figure this out. So he's just lying, lying, lying. Who's advising him to do this? The guys who are lying with him. So it's just like the blind leading the blind. It really is. It's a bunch of eight-year-olds trying to run a country. Oof. On September 15th, 1971, Liddy, Hunt, McCord. So Liddy and Hunt were the guys, the plumbers.

And McCord was one of the White House aides, also a burglar. And the four Watergate burglars were indicted by the grand jury. In other words, charged with committing a crime. But nothing really happens, right? They're just charged with it now. And now they have to await their trial. So it's like, now we're going to go to court. Got it. Meanwhile, Bob Woodward. Baby. Baby. And Carl Bernstein. So Carl Bernstein is. Little Carl, little Carl. A new one.

So that's Carl. I thought it was a woman, honestly, when I first looked at this. I thought the last page was just the women involved. Hey, Carl, that's a compliment. Yeah, I mean, your hair looks lovely. Yeah, it really does. It's thick. So, yes, they were going ham in their investigation, in investigating the scandal. On September 29th, 1972, they report that John Mitchell, while serving as Attorney General, controlled a secret Republican office

Republican slush fund used to finance widespread intelligence gathering operations against the Democrats. So in simple terms, he was having secret money set aside to spy on Democrats. That's illegal. Jesus Christ. That's not cool. Also, it's like you're raising money for the campaign to reelect the president and you're using it to spy on Democrats. Wow. That's cheating, guys. How were they spying? What were they doing? Like wiretaps. Oh, actually...

The Post also reports the FBI's conclusion that Watergate break-ins were directly connected to spy efforts by the Nixon campaign and reported that the CRP had also been involved in successful shady, dirty tricks against Democratic candidates. Here we go. For example, they got the letterhead of a Democratic presidential hopeful, Edmund Muskie. Muskie's.

So they got his letterhead and forged all these letters, making it look like he had written really damning things, but they were all fake, but they had his letterhead. And so these letters ended up tarnishing his reputation and costing him the election because people thought he actually wrote all this stuff.

It would be like faking emails or something like that. And be like, look what he said. And he never said, oh, you can't get that back. That's so sad. That is so sad. It's so dirty. Yeah, it's like, have they no shame? No, they have no shame. Like, I can't believe you would actually feel like this is okay to do to someone. Yeah, that's just pure evil. It is. Like you're doing something to like truly destroy someone's life. Yes. And you feel like you need to cheat that bad. Maybe you're not equipped for the job.

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So that was one of the things that they were doing, spying and also using money to do shit like this. Oh, God. And this comes out in the post because of our beautiful angel. Yeah, if you have to try so hard, what's that say about your confidence? Do less, babe. Exactly. There it is. So, oh, this is also crazy. Even with all of this coming out.

Most Americans believed the president and believed that they had nothing to do with this. And on November 11th, 1972, Nixon is reelected in one of the largest landslides in American political history, taking more than 60% of the vote. He won every single state except Massachusetts. Good job, Massachusetts. Way to go, Katie. Good job.

Good job. We're thinking of you. We are. What the fuck? Who is he running up against? Oh, God. They said it and I didn't write it down. It's someone that it's like not. I mean, I'm sure it was notable to people who lived at that time. He tried his damn best. He sure did. But how could you win when you have liars and cheats? So during all of this, people were like, it's fine. I wonder what they thought. I think they literally thought the president would never do something like that. He's an honest man. He's a good man. He's going to do good things for our country. Remember, this is pre-

technology, pre, like all these videos. We didn't have people that you thought that the president was a good person. But weren't they also really frustrated with him with his decisions of Vietnam? That wasn't like really revealed at the time. Like things were coming out later. Got it. Got it. Yeah. And he was the guy because Vietnam, like we had been in that mess forever and he came in and said, I'm going to be the one to end the war. He was also the president that was like,

law and order and like all of that stuff and like these hippies i'm gonna get rid of them which the hippies were like we just want the war to end like literally and we want people to stop dying yes exactly which is ironic because he came in as the president's like i'm gonna be the one to end the war that's what they always say isn't it that's what they always say but let's you can walk or talk the talk can you walk the walk usually no and he did not that's what i've learned yeah in my life

So, yeah. So he gets reelected as the president. But in 1973, we're going to go to trial. It's time. Yeah, it's time. The five Watergate intruders and Howard Hunt and G. Liddy are on trial. By January 30th, all but two suspects had pleaded guilty because you didn't have to testify if you pleaded guilty. So you didn't have to talk.

if you plead guilty. Right. So the judge sees this and worries that they're all doing this to try to protect the higher ups because it's like you guys are complying a little too easily. Interesting. So the judge says, he warns them that they would receive extremely long sentences if they didn't cooperate and he calls for a Senate investigation.

So John Dean, who's the kind of hot one. Actually, yeah, he's hot. Alexander Skarsgård. Yep. Okay. Meets with Nixon to be like, listen, they're coming for us. Run. Run. Also, Hunt is now blackmailing. Hunt is the one who kind of looks like an elf. Okay. Hunt is now blackmailing the Nixon administration saying that he will reveal everything if he doesn't get paid $100,000.

$135,000. Why so specific? Yeah, good question. Maybe he had like a mortgage or... $125,000? Yeah. He must have had like counted... He like balanced his checkbook and was like, all right, this is what it's going to be. He's like, I also like to get some pizza delivered once in a while. Kind of makes it a little bit more expensive. You understand. So...

And later that day, John Mitchell approves a $75,000 payment to Hunt's lawyers, allegedly to cover his legal expenses. Yeah, I think that was actually just hush money. It always is, isn't it? It always is.

But it was really McCord, who was one of the burglars in the White House, that they should have been worried about. He was terrified of going to jail, rightly so. And so he wrote a secret letter to the judge accusing the Nixon administration of creating the massive cover up. And the judge reads that entire letter out loud to the courtroom, shocking witnesses the next day.

Wow. Can you imagine the judge being like, guess what I got last night? Wow. He's like, you didn't want me to read this, did you? But I'm gonna. Yeah. It's crazy. So he was the only one that actually came forward to be like, look, I was in this position because this administration is horrific. Yeah, because he was scared of going to jail. Well, good. Someone has to be honest. Yeah. But also it's like, well, you did what you did.

Yeah, at that point you have to take ownership. Yeah, but good. Let us know the truth. Yeah, so we'll take it. The judge, then he gives 25 to 35 years to all the Watergate intruders, except McCord got his sentence delayed as a reward for the letter. That always happens, doesn't it? Yep. So now the other big guys working on this, all the guys we have mentioned before, panic because they're like, shit, this is not going to end with us or end with them. And we know that.

Magruder, who was one of the masterminds of the cover-up and the CRP deputy director, told Dean he was going to confess to the grand jury for immunity deal. He was like, listen, I'm going to

Get out of this. And Dean was like, well, shit, if you're doing that, I need to save my ass. And he started cooperating with the Watergate prosecutors before the other guy even could. I'm losing track of all the names. It's a lot. Men. Yeah, it's a lot of men. Too many men. Just let that sit with you for a second. Call our male listeners, please.

So on April 6th, yeah, so he goes to the, starts cooperating with the Watergate prosecutors on April 6th, 1973. On April 9th, the Times reported that McCord and his testimony to the grand jury stated that the burglars had received money directly from the CRP after the break-in. So he confirmed that the CRP gave them money to be quiet. And on August 30th, Nixon's top White House staffers, Bob Haldeman, John

Erlichman and Attorney General Richard Kleinstanz resign over the scandal and John Dean is fired. So it's like the house of cards are just falling, which is very similar to the Trump administration. It's so true. Nixon comes out in a press conference and basically says, listen, these guys were just doing what they thought was right. And who could fault them for that? They were just fighting for what they believed in. And also it was them. It wasn't me.

Oh, yeah. What a piece of garbage. Like if I was those guys, I'd be like, fuck you. Like literally. So he keeps putting the blame on them and it's like, but listen, I had nothing to do with it. So shortly after the New York Times reports that all those officials that have left and John Mitchell had all taken part in the Watergate cover up and they will probably be charged.

Yeah, and this is bad because everyone's just going to start talking now. Because they're like, if I fall, you're going down with me. Yep. This reminds me of the end of Wolf of Wall Street. Yes, that's exactly what it is. Yeah. Always goes back to Leo for you. It sure does. I feel like we mention Wolf of Wall Street in every episode that we record. History of Wolf of Wall Street. Oh, we should do that. Season two, we're coming for you. Don't you guys worry. And then a former White House aide reveals in 1971 that...

He reveals that Nixon has all of his conversations recorded, which I'm sure people were like, what? What did you just say?

Drops that bomb. Yeah. Yeah. And everyone was like, we need those tapes immediately. The question was, what did the president know and when did he know it? And it's like, why are we even asking these questions? Guys, he knew it the whole time. Come on. You're from the beginning and he knew everything that was going on. Before Watergate, someone suggested just asking for something. He said, no, steal it. Yeah. Yeah.

Shows your character, doesn't it? It sure does. So Nixon refuses to give over the tapes and cites presidential privileges, but maintains he's still innocent.

Trump? Exactly. Show your taxes? Yeah, exactly. And he's like, no, if I'm president, you can't make me. Yeah. Like, why not just show them? Because I don't have to. Yeah, exactly. Actually, you do. You do. And if you're innocent, it shouldn't be a big deal. I just imagine Nixon, like, holding up a tape and be like, try to get it. Like, literally, once again, a child's playground is really the imagery. Exactly. It's D.C. So, yeah.

With this, Nixon tries to convince the prosecutor to drop the subpoena of the tapes, but he doesn't. So Nixon fires him like the prosecutor in the whole case. And Nixon has the control and he fires him. It's like you look so guilty. It's just it's too much power. And it's well, he's just damning himself, whatever he does, because everyone's like, OK, I wasn't sure before.

And that made politicians from both parties be like, no. So he does a televised statement from Disney World of all places. Good. Most magical place on Earth. I'd watch that. Yeah. And stating that he's innocent and he says this famous line, I am not a crook.

Isn't it so funny that they're like, I mean, we're just all so gullible as a country. It's so true. And it's like, put him in Disneyland so people feel like he's this family man. That's really sweet. It's like it's innocent. Like Mickey Mouse is in the background. It's like, what are you doing there? It's haunting. It really is. And it's sad because it's the same thing with Trump supporters that it's like, I believe him.

And it's so, it's like, take your glasses off. And just politics in general. It's like, show him holding a baby. Yes, exactly. And he is this family man. And people are like, okay, I actually could see that now. I believe it. It's just disturbing. It's disturbing. So, okay. In November, it is revealed that there, with the tapes, in November it is revealed that there is an 18 and a half minute gap in one of the tapes they had requested. Oh, wow.

Nixon's secretary says she accidentally recorded over that part. Once again, blaming on the woman. Yeah, exactly. She's like, you're going to take this one. Threatened. I hate you. Yeah, truly. My mom said that apparently it was explained that she was accidentally leaning over on something and that's how it started recording over. It's like for 18 and a half minutes.

Please. God. So there's an 18 and a half minute gap in that. On March 1st, 1974, the Watergate Seven, which are all the top guys, are indicted, which means there's enough evidence to charge them with crimes. Nixon was named an unindicted co-conspirator. Conspirator? Conspirator? Yeah.

And since he was president, he could not be indicted. But finally, he caved and released 1,200 pages of edited transcripts of the Nixon tapes. It's just things like completely...

Like, take that out. Stickers over, like, big words. Exactly. Well, you know what's funny? They thought that would shut people up, but it ended up backfiring because Americans were shocked by Nixon's foul language and pettiness. Much like our podcast. Yeah.

Everything goes back. Relatable. Relatable. Like, Nixon, I understand you the most at this point, honestly. But they were shocked because every cuss word was replaced by expletive deleted. And it just filled the papers. He's just like, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. God damn it. And then the American people were, like, clutching their pearls. Like, how could he say such things? He couldn't. He couldn't. The man that reported from Disney World? Yeah, yeah.

So people were like, he's disgusting. Wow. So that's the thing that got everyone to have like a dirty mouth. Yeah. It's like, I think that's the only thing I like about him. Yeah. So that backfires on him. And on May 9th, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee opened impeachment proceedings against Nixon. And the Supreme Court rules unanimously that Nixon must turn over the tapes of recordings of 64 White House conversations. And he had to do it now.

Now. So Supreme Court's like, you have no more choice. Like, it's time. It is time. I love when you do that. Oh, we crack ourselves up. On June 30th, House Judiciary Committee passes the first of three articles of impeachment charging obstruction of justice. But before voting on impeachment, all of his Republican friends got together and they were like, it's your time.

You need to resign. Yeah. Oh, I do that before. Before you get impeached. Yeah. Because then you can get convicted of all these crimes. Like, it's time you need to get out. Always quit before you're fired, huh? Yeah. Or wait. Well, I would like to be fired to get a severance package. There it is. That's what I meant. But there's no severance package for the president. Yeah.

You can take some cookies on the way out. Yeah, exactly. Like enjoy. Yeah. Stationery. Yeah. Well, he was stealing everyone else's stationery. That's true. So on August 8th, 1974, Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign and Vice President Gerald R. Ford becomes president on August 9th, 1974. Oh, for how long?

Good question. I think we're getting to Carter soon in the 70s, if I'm not mistaken. So I don't know. And then Ford had an assassination attempt. So the president is really a thankless job. Dark times. Dark times. So Nixon walks out to his helicopter on August 9th, waves and flashes his signature V for victory sign, which was ironic. Two hands? I think maybe it was one, but I added. Like him? He was like...

That makes a TikTok what Tess just did. I bet you can imagine she was holding up to you. Oh, that was amazing. That's exactly. Peace out, sucka.

Oh, man, that was amazing. So, and Gerald Ford gives Nixon a full presidential pardon a month later. So he doesn't, he just has to sit pretty in his house for the rest of his life. Good God. The other guys were not so lucky. They all spent between, like these head guys spent between, some of them just had four months, some of them had as long as four years in prison. And in total, Watergate resulted in 69 indictments with 48 convictions. Wow.

And, you know, scandals have never been the same because from this, every scandal has had gate at the end of it. Wow. And it all comes from Watergate. Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Panagate. Oh, my God. It all stems from Watergate. Didn't even think about that. Right? And that is fucking Watergate. Wow. I mean...

I hope you guys didn't get too lost in that. No, that was, I mean, I followed it. It was disturbing, but I followed it. And it's just like, that happened all with Trump and like maybe even worse stuff. Of course. Yeah. I mean, it's just very representative of just privilege and politics and the dirty element of politics. And also when there's not...

Any women healthy enough? I mean, I'm sorry. I don't mean to just shit on men this whole time. And obviously that's not how I feel about all men. All men. But these men. But there is, you know, something to be said. Yeah. I said that to my aunt. I was like, when we were talking about the Vietnam War and all these decisions, I was like, I would just love to see what some women could do in these situations. Exactly. Because I think there just is something about the ego and the impulsive behavior and...

You know, it's just different. And I'm also not, you know, excluding this Republican Party. Like politics in general are dirty and scary. And I can't believe these men did this. Even the best ones. Yes. Are shady as hell. Yes. It's so upsetting. And like, I implore you guys, honestly, to do some research on the Vietnam War. It's dark. It's not going to be fun. But it's important to learn about this stuff. And it's disgusting. We should be ashamed of ourselves. Yeah. Vietnam was a tough time. It was tough. Yeah.

Wow. On that note, should we rank these guys from hot to not? Yeah, yeah. Okay. We're going to do it real quick. Yep. Nixon. No. Not. Henry Kissinger. Hold on. Let me get to the page. No. But he has potential. But I feel like he could be comforting in like a, like what kind of character is he? He's like the best friend that always wants to be the lead guy. Yeah. That could be kind of funny. Yeah. Smoke a joint with. Yes. I would love that. Okay. Okay. Bob Haldeman scares me.

That crew cut is so intense. Not into it. Looks mean. Yeah. G. Gordon Liddy. You come right over. Yeah. Like literally. The mustache does it for me. For sure. Love that. Howard Hunt. No. No. He's too skinny. Not hot. No. Not hot. John Mitchell. Not hot. Not hot. Especially like take care of your wife. Like truly. Disgusting. Disgusting. James McCord.

I feel like he's dirty. I was going to say something inappropriate. Say it. I just feel like I would have a wild night with him. Yeah, like essentially. But like never want to speak to him ever again. And probably like not even ask him like what he's done in his life. I agree. But let's not talk. Yeah. John Dean. Hot. He can get it. He can get it. Jeb Magruder.

Honestly, yeah. Honestly, yeah, too. I agree. I feel like he's like a little John Krasinski type. Oh, yes, totally. He would be like the Jem. Yes. Jem.

Jeb. Jeb and Jim. Also, like, I'm sure my mother is appalled at this because she knows these men, but... I'm sure people are very disturbed. Buckle up. We're not done because we're getting to the best one. Bob Woodward. So hot. I would marry that man. Me too. And he's a good guy and he just wants justice and he's smart. His lips. His eyes. I love you, Bob Woodward. Martha.

Martha, you're hot. You're hot. You had a hot girl summer, I feel, where you drank a little bit too much. We love that. You'd be fun to party with. For sure. Carl Bernstein, I'll take it. You're hot. I'll get it. Yeah. I'd like to do mushrooms with Carl. Oh, Carl would be wild on mushrooms. You just know it. Guys, thank you for taking that journey with us. Claire, you did a great job. Thank you. Thank you for reminding me of a very important and scary political story.

If we're a history podcast, we had to cover Watergate. We had to, and you did it well. Thank you guys for challenging me to that. I appreciate it. I hated you for a minute, but now I love you. Sometimes that just happens. Life is a roller coaster. Sure is.

Well, we are going to have some exciting announcements coming up on our TikTok because we're getting a Gen Z audience now. We really are. In our Instagram. Yeah. Soon, probably by next week, we can announce something that everyone should, if you're in LA, mark your calendars. It's going to be so, so fun. You will not regret it, but we can't say. Not yet. We got to keep you waiting. Exactly. But just know it's going to be exciting.

Life-changing. Life-changing. If you're not in LA, fly on in. Yeah. We won't provide lodging or airfare, but you know. We're not responsible for any lost belongings, air travel. Lost time. There it is. But guys, thank you again so much.

And as always, follow us on Instagram and TikTok. We need more TikTok followers, guys. Yes, we do. Share the word. That's apparently how people, I don't know, grow these days. Share the word. Yes. Spread the good word. And give us a five-star review. Yeah. If you haven't done that, please do it. Please do. And send in what you guys want to know the history on. Yep. We have a few more episodes of season one. Yeah. But season two is just right around the corner. And we've already got ideas. Get excited. Well, thank you guys so much. God love you, Rammies. Bless your hearts. Bless your hearts.

And from Disney World, we are saying goodnight. Peace out. Victory. Peace out. Goodbye.