On June 17, 1972, 5 men broke into the Watergate hotel where the Democratic National Committee headquarters was. The five men, wearing surgical gloves and carrying wire tapping equipment and other spying devices that would be used in police surveillance were arrested (Boyer 906). Soon after the arrest, it was discovered that these men were receiving funds from CREEP (Committee to Re-Elect the President). Press Secretary Ron Ziegler, speaking for the organization denied all accusations quoting, "This incident is a third-rate burglary. Certain elements may try to stretch this beyond what it is (Graham 2)." With help from the unknown source of information, Deep Throat, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, exposed the organization with reports that they hired 50 agents to sabotage the Democrats' chances to win the 1972 election. Reacting to the Post, Nixon made subtle threats against them.

             The Post is going to have damnable, damnable problems out of this one. .

             They have a television station.and they're going to have to get it renewed.[T]he game has to be played awfully rough. I wouldn't want to be in Edward Bennett Williams's position after the election. We are going to fix the son of a bitch, believe me. (qtd in Price 2).

             With a 77-0 vote, the Senate formed a committee to investigate these reports and bring the truth out. .

             Even with Deep Throat's help, Woodward and Bernstein could not prevent the reelection of Nixon in 1972 (Boyer 906). Unfortunately for Nixon, the investigation of his role in the break in began in the spring of 1973 headed by Senator Sam Ervin (North Carolina). Wasting no time in the investigation, Ervin called James McCord, and ex-CIA agent who had taken part in the break in (Matthews). McCord testified that top White House officials had helped to plan the break in and later pay money to have it covered up. With this testimony, the case had blown wide open (Boyer 907). Nixon never saw this bombshell coming, and he never saw the bigger bombs coming at him in months to come.