i asked john dean to start if you don't know what the crime was, you don't know why there was an investigation. john, will you tell us a little bit about the first week after june 17th, 197 2rk bungled break in here in this building? >> as you know, tim, i have trouble looking at that week from the time i lived it to the time i looked back on it. today i know an awful lot more about that week than i did at that time. i can't help but look at it from hindsight. the cover up really starts within moments of the white house learning about the fact that five men have been arrested here in this building wearing business suits, rubber gloves, money stashed in their pocket and that they're from the re-election committee. the deputy trekker to have the re-election committee gets an update very quickly as to what's going on tells mcgruder that he's got to get back to washington immediately. does that. they put out a press release very quickly at the re-election committee that is a totally bogus account. one of the men arrested happened to be the head of security at the re-election committee. jim mccord.

basically something john dean said was on the tape was not there or something that -- john dean lied about this particular conversation is what he said. later he was indicted for that, that as he was so -- and for perjury and was found guilty. he was so confident that the tapes would never be revealed that he lied about what he had heard on the tapes recently, and, of course, he was wrong. the tapes and john dean ended up changing the course of history and linking the president to the cover- cover-up. ladies and gentlemen, john dean. [ applause ] >> i didn't need to bring it out. this will not be a three-bottle undertaking. what i thought i would do, i was delighted to learn the label on my keynoter, it's called a keynote dialogue, and i thought what would be really interesting is for me just to talk for a very few minutes and then really us have a dialogue. there's a lot of people here who are old enough to know a little bit about watergate. there are many people here who have now been learning about, it and this might be an interesting forum to really have a discussion about it rat

george herbert walker bush saying what street corner, what demon nations. >> and far from building john dean's oferte for if quarter gate coverup. if you listen to the tape of the clib they played before, the day after, dean was very much active in trying to enlist the bth and formerer training to try to get that money paid. and it was three weekings later that richard knicksson had this conversation. this is from april of 1973. let's listen. >> i think now we pretty much know what the worst is. i don't know what the hell they could have if it's the worth. >> that's right. i mean, i don't know that somebody's got a piece of paper or something that some signed or some kind of -- thing. what's in here is all the stuff that has been hinted at. he goes further than it was to go in some areas. obviously, it's goal week. >> let me ask you this -- i wonder if it isn't not only fair but in our interest, heat or john will fill them in. we're having in mind about it. cole som. >> we have no interest. >> i said nothing inconsistent with anything that chuck had scene. >> that would be right, chuck could s

carl bernstein will be with us along with white house council john dean. stay tuned. this is "hardball" the place for politics. [ male announcer ] if a phone rings at your car insurance company and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound? [ meows ] or if a tree falls on your car and no one's around to answer your call, do you make a sound? the answer is probably "yes" [ growling ] and "like a howler monkey." unless you're calling esurance. they have live humans on the phones to help 24/7. so you might make different sounds, like happy human sounds. esurance. insurance for the modern world. click or call. >>> global confidence in president obama has slipped since he fist took office. take a look at this. in traditional allies, europe and japan confidence in the president remains strong. although it has dropped a bit in russia. again it's down now. finally look at china. six in ten chinese had confidence in president obama back in 2009. now down to four in ten. i guess there's friction there. we'll be right back. >>> we're back. believe it or not, this sunday,

so you have john dean giving his testimony, but it's john dean versus president nixon. everything will change, however, when another dramatic moment of testimony occurs before the senate. and that's this testimony. and i think rather than me say it, why don't you listen to it. >> mr. butterfield, are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the oval office of the president? >> i was aware of listening devices, yes, sir. >> when were those devices placed in the oval office? >> that changes everything. now it's no longer a question of he said/he said. but you actually have -- potentially have evidence. you've got tapes of the president's conversations. now, this space is designed so that you can move around. so i'm going to -- we're going to leave the time line wall, and i'm going to show you the taping system because we have never had a well-documented system in history, and we probably will never have one. let me show you one. first of all, president nixon was not the first president to tape. franklin roosevelt was the first president to tape. and there

carl bernstein and john dean, perhaps the most famous whistleblower in history. finally, a new survey tells you you can tell where your politics are by the answers to those g questions. [ female announcer ] neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectious bacteria. neosporin® plus pain relief. for a two dollar coupon, visit neosporin.com. in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers to make a better experience for our customers. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ >>> new poll numbers from a pair of battleground states. first, nevada, where a new poll has president obama up six. that's good for him. 48-42 in nevada. michigan, another poll shows a cloers than expected race. a new poll

obviously before john dean and john mitchell and people like that, but we didn't go out to aggressively investigate the facts. which is something i wanted to do. i felt we had to do. this was my background both as a prosecutor and as a private lawyer. doar was much more cautious about doing it. knowing that we send people out, there will be newspaper stories. who knows what we'll get, how we'll be attacked? so he wanted to take it step by step. other people were gathering information or information was coming. let's just put it together and we'll present it in a neutral fashion. that judgment which some of which i opposed at the time i realized after it was all over happened to be a correct judgment. and i think it was very helpful in at achieving what was the ultimate outcome. at the beginning, we weren't sure. i wasn't sure at least, and i don't think doar was sure either although articles have been written contrary to this, that we were going to recommend impeachment of the president. we didn't come in to -- and this is how i remember it and i truly believe this. we weren't coming to

carl bernstein will be with us along with white house council john dean. stay tuned.is "hardball" the place for politics. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. and launch your dreams. ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? mine hurt more! mine stopped hurting faster... [ female announcer ] neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectious bacteria. neosporin® plus pain relief. for a two dollar coupon, visit neosporin.com. >>> global confidence in president obama has slipped since he fist took office. take a look at this. in traditional allies, europe and japan confidence in the president remains strong. although it has dropped a bit in russia. agai

we'll talk to the first watergate whistle blower, john dean. >>> and joe biden's water world. the vice president douses the press corps at the bidens' annual beach bash. we can tell you it was a wet saturday afternoon at the biden house. i'm andrea mitchell. today, commerce secretary john bryson has been released from the hospital after being involved in two car accidents saturday, possibly a third near his home in los angeles. according to commerce department officials, he suffered a seizure linked to the accidents. bryson allegedly rear-ended a buick with his lexus, then hit the same car again before leaving the scene and driving on. he then collided with a second car. police officials say there was no alcohol, no drug impairment. secretary had no security detail with him, according to officials, because he was driving his own car on his personal time. mark halpern is editor at large for "time" magazine. i think we have to wait to see what we find out about this, what kind of medical condition. everyone who knows the secretary, i know him, i have met him a number of occasion

jim has been working with john dean on the ethics training that stems out of the watergate experience and the question that john asked, how did so many lawyers get into trouble because of watergate? so you will hear from his standpoint, on one hand, a convicted defendant. >> not me. >> a perspective of a lawyer for a convicted defendant, and on the other hand, someone who was cooperating with the prosecution and plead guilty and has a focus particularly on representing an organization and what that means as to who your client is when you represent the white house or in the case of when you represent the committee to re-elect the president. so you will have very different perspectives from the two of them, jim is now a partner in thompson high in ohio. and has published two books on the history of the american presidency and it was actually a common interest in president harding that brought john dean and jim together. so that's a pretty interesting little thing. laurel rigartos, a professor. a professors professional on the subject of our panel, ethics. an associate professor at north

and he said, well, what shall i tell john dean when he asks me how it's going? tell him that you report to me. if he's got a problem, he's got a problem with me. so they never brought it up with me, although on the tapes, there's discussion between the president and john dean about who do i think i am, holding this up? but it was an improper use of the irs, and i wouldn't do it. >> in the time line, in the 1971 portion of the time line, we also included an episode that some people don't ordinarily associate with the -- with watergate, but we do because it involves an abuse of power. it also shows the president's mindset in the summer of 1971. this is when the president ordered halderman to find out the number of jewish-americans in the department of labor's bureau of labor statistics. and you can listen to the president ordering this from one of the white house tapes. and this led to a legal action which was an investigation to determine the ethnic background and religious background of members of the united states government. discrimination on the basis of reli

john dean. john dean served as council to the president of the united states from 1970 to 1973. before becoming white house council, he was chief minority council to the judiciary committee of the u.s. house of the representatives, an associate director of law reform commission and associate deputy attorney general at the u.s. department of justice. his undergraduate studies were at colgate university with majors in english literature and political science followed by a graduate fellowship at american university to study government and the presidency. he entered georgetown university law school where he received his j.d. with honors in 1965. mr. dean recounted his days at the nixon white house in two books "blind ambition" and "lost honor." after retiring from a business career as a private investment banker, he returned to writing best-selling books and lecturing as well as becoming a columnist. he currently rights for justia.com. his books include the rehnquist choice, warren g. harding, worse the secret presidency of george w. bush, conservatives with conscious, broken govern

our next guest is john dean. >>> plus, is russia coming any closer to pulling the plug on assad?ic guitar: slow ] [ barks ] ♪ [ upbeat ] [ barks ] beneful playful life is made with energy-packed wholesome grains... and real beef and egg. to help you put more play in your day. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. that's chilly. [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage. >>> syrian rebels say the government has escalated its assault on city of homes and several towns nearby involving 35 more civilian deaths. the renewed violence comes as former u.n. secretary general kofi annan blaming the regime for the fail

the evidence further suggests that john dean's wife maureen dean might have something to do with that prostitution ring and that's what's accounted to suggestions over the years that increased that it's john dean who ordered this break-in. there has never been any evidence to suggest that richard nixon knew about the watergate break-in in advance. host: as you know and we've talked to john dean about this, he strongly refutes anything involving his wife and prostitution ring and has done so vehemently. guest: he has and he has mitigated over the issue without much success. he has threatened me multiple times over the years with lawsuits or -- and the last time that he was on your program, as i recall, he said to you, steve, rosen and i are going to have our day. and that was vaguely menacing. the statute of limitations lapsed in all ways he could follow suit. he promised he was going to eviscerate him in his reissued edition of "blind ambition" that was 100 pages long and made no mention of me so one has to conclude if mr. dean had the evidence with which to contest my version of the

john dean tells nixon there's a cancer on the presidency. these phrases and expletive deleted was another one and smoking gun. since then a lot of scandals have picked up the gate, billygate, iran-contragate. hundred scandals using the gate including bart and homer simpson. so we look up to watergate to remember, people forget, for you it's all distant history. i recall the 25th anniversary there was a man on street interview in champagne, illinois where i lived and they asked the young college student what was watergate about? one of the presidents resigned, we can laugh but it's easy to forget. a poll in germany showed that 20% of german college students do not know, had no idea what auschwitz was. they had a reason to forget. when we think of wear gate as a triumph but not a blemish on our history. time grows old teaches many lessons. time is passing what are the lessons of watergate. one of the things relate to the people involved in this conspiracy didn't decide in 1972 let's get together and violate through. they took baby steps, happe

even do we want to go on television as the senate watergate committee did and hear john dean testify and hear john mitchell testify? no. in that sense, we analogized it to a grand jury. grand jury proceedings are not public, but trial proceedings are public. we had the sense to realize, we were all looking for exciting public hearings before the house judiciary committee. whatever the senate did, the senate did. would do what you would do, and the senate presumably would go public, but maybe not. the senate could do whatever it wished. here we analogized it to the grand jury. the evidentiary presentation, including st. clair's presentation, we allowed st. clair to make a presentation, which is different than the grand jury. we allow this to make a presentation. that's done in private. now the ultimate decision-making process will be done in public. so we had these public hearings, public sessions which each of the members was able to speak to present his arguments and to have a debate in public. >> francis o'brien remembers it being actually some conflict over whether to even make tha

woodward was telling me about this fellow named john dean who was the embodiment of evil at this point because he was working on behalf of john mitchell. he was very loyal to mitchell. mitchell had been the attorney general, had been the hook for john dean. mitchell recommended him to go to the white house and dean was working behind the sceneses to cover up this thing called watergate. this was right at the beginning. we had a conversation about loyalty. dean was very loyal to mitchell. i said isn't it possible for a person to be loyal to something good. by that point we determined that mitchell might not be the embodiment of good. there was a time when he realized attorney generals can lie just like everything else and run things out of their office that are inappropriate. i kind of volunteered this notion that, well, you know, some day i'd like to find somebody good to work for in washington and do something reasonably decent. >> alex, how did you end up at the nixon white house? >> i must be brief now. i was minding my own business in australia. i was what the -- i was a senior u.s

i didn't personally talk -- meet john dean. it seems what people do say to you. i mean, before i first interviewed robert pack chair, one of the three senior cabinet ministers about asking some other questions. is that it doesn't matter, you won't get a word in edgewise. by the next 10. that the people i did speak to you personally, i spoke to all of them personally and it is quite funny because we agreed in order to maintain the secrecy that when a callback, he reviews his wife's name as a code. and the beverly hills on ragan said is mr. homan on the phone for you. he came on and he says, i'm terribly sorry, but i forgot my codeword. in this we really. so i talked to him. i talked to anthony lefkowitz, who is a major -- i typed a spear avenue, two. spiro agnew, actually the session is a new was the most bewildering really on those with richard nixon because nixon was not mysterious with ms one would expect him to be. and in fact, he was almost positively asked the contrary in terms of it. i don't know why because there was basically breaking along with bribes an

president nixon in the oval office in 1973 talking to white house counsel john dean, dean tells the president$1 million and hush money " no problem " says president nixon. even though woodward and bernstein reporting live the way they say many americans did not believe the president directly involved until this >>> a high-level campaign of espionage unparalleled in american history >>> walter cronkite's reports on the cbs evening news. >>> the white house denies involvement in any wrongdoing >>> nixon believed use the presidency as an instrument of personal revenge or rewards. we keep looking for caper somebody says " what would be good for the country " president gerald ford and considering the good of the country pardon richard nixon. nixon never thank him. tony guide to cbs news new york. >>> in the bay area talking about warm weather that could lead to record highs tomorrow. then changes ahead. will cover that in due course. ,,,, >>> the creatures of madagascar are three found their way to the top of the box office. the latest installment earn more than $60 million. prometheus had a big o

john dean and saying, i know where we could get the money to pay the burglars to keep quiet. was, you know, the enemy's list. it was the irs harassment of people who opposed his war policies. it was sitting with the justice department people, getting the details about what the investigation was and then turning them right over to his -- to the people who were being investigated that woulderman and ehrlichman. it was when we found that he specifically ordered the cia to stop the f.b.i.'s investigation. so it was just fact after fact after fact. i still remember saying in my statement when each one of us had to make a statement during the debate. we were given five minutes to do that. i said, you know, in all of the tape recordings, in all of the transcripts of conversations, i never heard or saw president nixon ever ask what the right thing to do was. it was just: how do we get around that? how do we stop this from happening? how do we -- how do we keep these burglars from telling the truth? and it was later which i thought about it, it reminded me of tape recordings with hear

we'll talk to the first watergate whistle blower, john dean. >>> and joe biden's water world. douses the press corps at the

. >>> john dean and bud crow just saw him one of the men who led the team of burglarthieves that carriedut the dirty tricks on the president's behalf. nixon would become the only president to resign from office two years after the break-in here, august 1974, and the name water gate would come to symbolize the nightmarish national scandal and so much more brian, we will have our story about tonight's seminar on the 10:00 p.m. news. it should be interesting. >> live at the water gate hard to believe 40 years ago. >>> plan to sell retail, in metro's under ground tunnels stalled. reported a contract between transit and its first client fell through. the company would have provided dvd rental kiosks inside penn station the move would have brought in $800,000 to metro over the next 8 years for now it appears the issue has been tabled. more than 600,000 swimmers attempted to cross the chesapeake bay swim challenge. the one competitor, was truly an inspiration to others. 38-year-old craig has no arms, no legs, but one giant heart. he swam the entire 4.5 miles to conquer the bay, and show everyon

as senate hearings began in 1973 white house counsel john dean said nixon knew about the coverup. then another bombshell the revelation of a secret white house taping system. after a long battle the supreme court ordered nixon to turn over the tapes. one crucial tape had an 18 1/2-minute audio gap. what nixon actually said on that tape is the last remaining secret of watergate following the 2005 revelation of deep throat's real identity. four decades later watergate still casts a cultural shadow. a scandal is nothing until the word "gate" is attached to it even in the world of sports. the reporters who exposed watergate say the scandal revealed a president obsessed with keeping power at any cost, but its impact has lasted a lot longer. >> a massive campaign of espionage and sabotage, covert, illegal, unconstitutional. >> watergate implanted a cynical bomb in american politics that will probably never go away. >> reporter: chuck todd, nbc news, washington. >>> up next here tonight an honor long overdue for a name once known across this country. hello? the words are going this way-t

or call john dean and play the tape? this is kind of things i was wrestling with. and we had three articles. how do we prove each of the articles of impeachment, the watergate article, article one, article two, the abuse of agency articles. one was the break-in. number two was the abuse of various agencies. and number three is the failure to turn over documents to the committee. how do you make those kind of presentations? and i was just starting to weigh those things at the time. to me, it was difficult and important to sort of -- how do you try a case in the senate? >> did you talk to anybody in the senate? did you have a chance? >> no. it ended suddenly. >> did you have a sense of timetable? >> yes. i was very concerned about that. that's why i didn't want to leave my office. i thought it would be very -- fairly quick. i thought it would be 30 to 60 days after the articles of impeachment would come down and that's an important time to prepare -- and we'd have to prepare the congressmen. because we weren't really going to be able and even in the clinton impeachme

he's talking to white house counsel john dean.tells the president he needs a million dollars in hush money. no problem says nixon. even though the watergate reporting led the way, they say many americans didn't believe the president was directly involved until this. >> a high level campaign of political sabotage and espionage unparalleled in american history. >> walter cronkite special reports on the "cbs evening news." >> the white house denied and continues to deny involvement in any wrongdoing. >> nixon believed that you use the presidency as an instrument of personal revenge or reward. we keep looking for a tape where somebody says, what would be good for the country? >> president gerald ford considering the good of the country pardoned richard nixon. nixon never thanked him. tony guida, cbs news, new york. >>> after your local news on "cbs this morning," the latest on the colorado wildfires. we'll get an update from the scene. plus the obama administration and damage control over comments about the economy and classified leak

but it was conversations between the president and halderman and president err lackman and john dean had a big part in some of them. and i thought, boy, everyone keeps their voice down in the oval office. no screaming and ranting and raving. on the other hand, what's being said is pretty amazing. >> tell us about john dohr, working with him. >> he was a dream boat. dream boat. just so sort of apple pie good, and, you know, i knew that he -- he made a real effort to not socialize with any of his democratic friend in washington. he was quite a good friend with ethel kennedy in washington. i spent quite a bit of time at hickory hill. that john dohr, he won't even return my telephone calls, it's really awful. one time, john took exception to the fact that i think it was i had written a memo for mr. hutchison of michigan, the ranking member, at the request of sam garrison and i think sam asked me to deliver it to mr. hutchison and john said i didn't know about this. i got caught in the middle on that. and i was kind of inned middle because i was on both sides. i had a lot of different job

john dean joining me next on weekends with alex witt. i went to a small high school. the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful. he would never give up on any of us. ovider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] get the mileage card with special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret

he's talking to white house counsel john dean, dean tells the president he needs a million dollars inroblem says nixon. >> there's ca, i know where it can be gotern. >> reporter: even though the watergate reporting lead the way, they say many americans didn't believe the president was directly involved until this. >> a high level campaign, of political sabotage and es meanage apparently unparallelled in american history. >> walter cronkite's special report on the "cbs evening news". >> the white house denied and continues to deny involvement in any wrongdoing. >> nixon believed that you used the presidency as an instrument of personal avenge or reward. >> we keep looking for a tape where somebody says what would be good for the country. >> reporter: president gerald ford considering the good of the country pardoned richard nixon. nixon never thanked him. tony guida, cbs news, new york. >> jeff: that is the "cbs evening news" tonight. later on cbs, "60 minutes." i'm jeff glor, cbs news in new york. scott pelley will be here tomorrow. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by

john dean and our panelists alexander butterfield and scott armstrong. [ applause ] . >>> this is really a unique panel this morning. take a special delight in being able to moderate. i'm the guy who thought i was taped. scott's the guy who thought there might be taping. alex is the guy who knew there was taping. they have been together once before almost 40 years ago where they sort of, one, brought this information to the public, but also realizing the importance n historical importance of what they were doing, they paused to make a record of it. that record was recorded many years later in the journal of american history which is a fairly detailed account. it tease march 1989 addition, if anybody is ever interested in going through every detail. what i thought would be interesting this morning is to reminisce about that where we can short of serve as your fact witnesses this morning. if you were in the audience last night, jill vulner did a wonderful job of providing a chronology of events, many of them touching on the tapes because the tapes will become the central issue in the water

then finally the evidence on the tapes as we listened to the tapes for the first final and heard john dean provide in the cancer on the presidency speech that he gave to richard nixon, chapter in verses giving richard nixon every benefit of the doubt that he didn't know all the things that had happened that quite clearly he did know. and then telling the president, look, you've got to stop it now. you've got to quick now. it's untenable. you have to stop the cover up. perchry's been committed. obstruction of justice. people are going to have to go to jail. you need to get beyond this and richard nixon said quite unequivocally you've got to continue the cover up. you've got to continue paying the hush money. you've got to keep the cap on it. still longer. and so this listening to this to me and then to leon who had followed archibald cox as special prosecutor became the most decisive part of the investigation. >> you know, were you the happiest person in washington when the president -- when alexander butterfield confirmed your suspicion that there was a white house taping system? >> what's

dean john -- dean johnson thinks that is the way it going to go. >> what is likely to happen is the mosttroversial provision of obamacare the individual mandate is going to be struck down. the less clear question is whether if the individual mandate goes, does the entire legislation go? i think probably it will. >> reporter: because he says, the mandate is so intertwined with the rest of the bill and the mandate is the funding mechanism the affordable care act is president obama's defining achievement. speaker boehner says if the court doesn't strike down the entire bill house republicans will move to repeal what is left of it. stay with abc news this morning, special report immediately following this morning's ruling which we expect in half an hour. >>> suspended sheriff ross mirkarimi finally gets his chance today to explain why he should keep his job when he tests before the ethics commission. mirkarimi spoke with the i-team. amy hollyfield is live at city hall. >> reporter: good morning. mirkarimi says he hasn't had opportunity in this kind of forum to tell his story from the beginni

he first announced executive privilege from testimony by white house council john dean a key figure. sam urban of north carolina chairman of the watergate committee planned to send in the sergeant of arms to arrest dean. he was a young lawyer on the ne nixon team. >> there is a bitter divisive partisan atmosphere in washington that existed in watergate. >> i p can't put myself in the president's mind. >> he became the hearing star witness leaving nixon and congress to clash again over access to the president's secret tapes. >> the white house tapes were conversations with the president in the oval office. they had a far higher level of confidentiality than the attorney general's internal documents today. >>> in july 1974 the supreme court ruled executive privilege did exist. they need to hear the tapes out weighs nixon's need for confidentiality. he resigned days later. they pete president obama's assertion as part of a pattern in his presidency of a piece reported nans of a kill list of overseas assassination. >> neither bush nor mnixon himself achieved this dream of an immaterial p

executive privilege in march 1973 to reject lawmaker the hands for testimony by then white house counsel john deanfigure in the watergate coverup. sam erman threatened to send the sergeant at arms to arrest dean. jeff shepard was a young lawyer on nixson's legal team. >> there is the same bitter divisive partisan atmosphere in washington, that existed in watergate. >> i can't put myself in the president's mind. >> before long, dean turned state's evidence and became the hearing star witness leaving nixon and congress to clash again over access to the president secret tapes. >> white house tapes were conversations of the president in the oval office. they had a far higher level of confidentiality that was assumed than the attorney general internal documents today. >> in 1974, they ruled executive privilege did exist and investigators need to hear the tape outweighed nixon's need for confidentiality. nixon turned over the tape and resigned days later. some see obama's exertion of executive privilege is part of a pattern. >> neither bush nor nixon himself achie achieved a dream f imperial presidency

as senate watergate hearings began, john dean said nixon knew about the cover-up.another bombshell. the revelation of a secret white house taping system. after a long battle, the supreme court ordered nixon to turn over the tapes. one crucial tape had an 18 1/2 minute audio gap. what nixon actually said on that tape is the last remaining secret of watergate following the 2005 revelation of deep throat's real identity. four decades later, watergate still casts a cultural shadow, a scandalist nothing until the water "gate" is attached to it, even in the world of sports. the reporters who exposed watergate say the scandal revealed a president obsessed with keeping power at any cost, but its impact has lasted a lot longer. >> a massive campaign of espionage and sabotage, covert, illegal, unconstitutional. >> watergate implanted a cynical bomb in american politics that probably will never go away. >> and, in fact, former senator gary hart, of course, at the time was george mcgovern's campaign manager. and i interviewed former senator hart about what his memories were of