halderman? >> chairman burr, vice chairman warner and members of the kmity, thank you for inviting me po speak with you today about the security of u.s. elections. i'm a professor of computer science and have spent the last ten years studying the electronic voting systems that our nation relies on. my conclusion from that work is our highly computerized election infrastructure is vulnerable to sabotage and even to cyberattacks that could change votes. these realities risk making our election results more difficult for the american people to trust. i know america's voting machines are vulnerable. because my colleagues and i have hacked them repeatedly. as part of a decade of research studying the technology that operates elections how to make it stronger. we've created a tax that can spread from machine to machine, like a computer vice and silently affect the outcomes. we've studied touchscreens and optical scanning systems, we found cases for hackers to sabotage machines and steal votes, these c

halderman is calling from camp david and would like to speak to you. all of a sudden, bob is on the line in my heart is pounding. he tells a that he just finished meeting with the president. it is just what i expected, he said. the president asked john and me to submit our resignations. there is knowing -- there was no turning back at this time. keep talking bob, if you expect me to say something, i don't think i can. keep talking. i will come home before long, bob continues, as if this were any normal day. it's what you call the children -- will you call the children and our parents and given the news? of course my reply study but my . head just checking. i'm so sorry, bob, i hope you are all right. i love you. that is all i can say. there is so much more. so much more. after hanging up, i stand and stare at the phone. tonight, this constant intruder into my life has finally had -- has finally had the last word. in march of 1974, bob was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, and three counts of perjury, in connection wit

[laughter] over the next five years, from 1959-1973, i became known as haldeman's halderman. i took that is the highest praise come about to be honest, i'm not sure most people thought that way. [laughter] i was privileged to go to china and the soviet union and many other places. president and worked to end the vietnam war and set the world on a path to lasting peace. in addition to running the white house office every day, bob had a strong sense of history and his duty to it. he applied this extraordinary discipline in writing and later recording a daily diary of events he experienced and observed. haldeman diaries, available on kindle, is increasingly considered to be one of the most remarkable and insightful windows into the american presidency. at first, bob wrote his diary and longhand. this is what they looked like. here's the title page with the dates and he filled in, january 18 through april 25. when it came to the last page he began the next volume. his work is typically clear and disciplined handwriting haldeman is famous for looked like. bob is also interested in

conversation with his aide and they are discussing how to get the discussion under control, and halderman says we have to get somebody from the cia's side to ask the fbi to stop. the cia side is on our team, but he knows enough at he cannot order the investigation to stop out some valid pretext. nixon understood that, but even then it doomed him. the current president, it is remarkable that he doesn't have that level of understanding of how his actions will be perceived. >> that was part of the points from paul ryan today. president really doesn't understand the workings -- as we all know, he is not a politician, he doesn't know about the laws and protocol between the president and the executives, and the fbi? is that a defense? >> it is a stupidity defense. everybodying, i think would agree that there is a high degree of incompetence here, that doesn't necessarily mean it but itinally stupid, would be a remarkable level of incompetence not to understand the ramifications of some of the things that are done. if that is the best the republicans can do, it's probably not a very strong defen

halderman's test is something we should guard against. something as we were transitioning to the system, something i was concerned about is what can be done that could be done and undetected. s i like theeason audit trail is if you have something to go back -- if you have a reason to go back and determine what happened on election day. let's talk about the much more open registration system. the secretary lawson, you said hands. 15,500 blog the county courts in indiana are connected to the statewide voter registration system. , we collectedns the work they did that year. that is a system that has lots of people coming in and out of that system all of the time. do local jurisdictions like at the library does registration. do you have counties where they can put those registrations directly into the system? >> other than a counties, no sir. a voter can go online and register themselves. the counties will find that information in their hopper the next day. they will have the ability to determine whether or not the application is correct. >>

muffled downbeat voice, and said, "i was wondering if you could get up here at 1:30 today." >> bob haldermanys, "he's decided to fire us." >> the president then he began to sob, and i put my arm around his shoulder. it was at that point i was feeling more sorry for him than i was for myself. >> today in one of the most difficult decisions of my presidency, i accepted the resignations of two of my closest associates in the white house. bob haldeman. john erlichman. two of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to know. the counsel to the president, john dean, has also resigned. >> "two of the finest public servants i've ever known," said nixon showing them the door hoping to save himself, of course. >> the biggest white house scandal in a century, the watergate scandal, broke wide open today. >> reporter: the white house is in a state of shock. >> was one of the most painful things he had to do in his political career. >> hi. >> hope i didn't let you down. >> no sir, you got your points over, now you got it set right and move on. >> well, it's a tough thing, bob, for you and for

on the tape, you hear nixon telling halderman to stop the investigation. >> those words clearly led toof justice. >> i am joined now by former u.s. congress woman els let's holtsman. i remember you there. the great thing about it was it was very solemn your hearing, it wasn't political, it didn't seem to be. you had a number of republicans joining you. you voted the articles of impeachment. you went home at night. you'd be there. we'd be watching from home in every bar in america. everybody watched that set of hearings. >> right. it was a freshman member of congress from you that you, a democrat who really forced the committee to have these hearings in public. he said the american people can't see what you are deciding, if it's behind closed toors, if it's secret, they will never have credibility or belief in what you are doing. ultimately the committee was persuaded. we had the open hearings. i think the people may not have understood everything we were saying. but they could scrutinize people's faces, they saw they were serious, it was professional, it was fair and that made a huge i

the june 23rd, 1973, the so-called smoking gun tape between halderman and richard nixon, was their agreement to pretend to use the cia to stop the fbi investigation of the watergate break-in. this conversation was president trump saying to director comey stop the investigation of michael flynn. it's the use of presidential power to stop an fbi investigation for an improper purpose. >> jeff, can i ask you a question about this. there was a crime -- everybody knew there was a crime, a break-in at the watergate. do we know that flynn has commit add crime? >> by no means. >> and if he hasn't -- that's my question because i'm not a lawyer. if he hasn't committed a crime, does that make it a weaker case? >> no, not under the statute. and another question that i think a lot of people have is, well, if he didn't successfully obstruct justice is it obstruction of justice because, after you all, the president did not stop the fbi investigation. but the statute is very clear that an attempt to obstruct justice even if it's unsuccessful is obstruction of justice. >> i think it was the national review i

watergate break in, an insider's view into the watergate scandal that resulted in her husband' bob halderman serving an 18-month prison sentence. >> the white house phone rings and i instantly assume it's that dreaded call from nixon. the conversation is surprisingly brief. the president wants john and me to chopper up to meet him at camp david at 1:30 today. when the white house phone rings again, i fight to stay composed. that was ron sigler, press secretary, bob says. he's at camp david too. the president now feels very strongly that john and i should volunteer to resign. >> for our complete "american history" tv schedule, go to c-span.org. >>> and we're live on capitol hill this morning for a hearing with epa administer scott pruitt on president trump's 2018 epa budget request. he's speaking for house appropriations subcommittee. this is live coverage on c-span3. it should start in just a moment. >> the committee will come to order. good morning. today we continue to keep all those affected by yesterday's events including our colleague steve scalise in our thoughts and prayers. we applau

on the 45th anniversary of the watergate break in, joan halderman has a view of the watergate scandal that led to her husband serving an 18-month prison sentence. >> the white house phone rings and i assume it's the dreaded call from nixon. the conversation is surprisingly brief. the president wants john and me to chopper up to meet him at camp david at 1:30 today. when the white house phone rings again, i fight to stay composed. that was ron zeigler, press secretary. bob says he's at camp david, too. the president now feels very strongly that john and i should volunteer to resign. >> for the complete american history schedule, go to c-span.org. >> sunday on q & a -- >> barack is committed to presenting his story. i think that's different from history. >> part one with our interview with pulitzer prize interviewer, "rising star" the making of barack obama, which covers his life up to winning the presidency. >> i think barack's political aspirations and sense of destiny lead him to push yeager aside. during that time, there was a well known political figure in chicago, hugely respected

eastern on the presidency, on the 45th anniversary of the watergate break-in, joe halderman with an insider's view of richard nixon's white house and the scandal that resulted in her husband serving a 18-month prison sentence. >> the white house phone rings. and i instantly assume it's that dreaded call from nixon. the conversation is surprisingly brief. the president wants john and me to chopper up to meet him at camp david at 1:30 today. when the white house phone rings again, i fight to stay composed. that was ron zigler press secretary bob says. he's at camp david, too. the president now feels very strongly that john and i should volunteer to resign. >> for the complete tv schedule, go to c-span.org. >>> sunday on q & a -- >> barack is very deeply committed to presenting his story. and i think that's different from history. >> part 1 of our interview with biographer david garro talking about "rising star: the baking of barack obama" covering president obama's life up to his winning the presidency. >> i think that barack's political aspirations and sense of destiny lead him to push sheila