Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Page #4

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and how he's getting it.

Did I do something wrong?

Mr. Bates tells me

you've been giving Mr. Gray everything

we're collecting on Watergate.

All our interviews, all of our files.

Did Mr. Gray tell you to bypass me?

Well, he didn't say

it was a secret or anything.

But he said that you knew.

How often did you give him our files?

- Every day.

- Why?

We know why.

Did you give the Attorney General

any information about our investigation?

- I don't talk to the Attorney General.

- Did you, Mr. Bates?

Mr. Miller?

The Attorney General called me this morning

about something

he could only have heard from the FBI.

He's putting a box around Watergate.

We can't touch anything before the break-in.

We have to stay away

from all the White House corruption.

In other words,

the crimes that matter don't matter.

For the first time in its history, the FBI

has been quarantined.

Crimes that it knows about

will go uninvestigated.

- Mr. Felt...

- Thank you, Mr. Kunkel.

So, with everything we have right now,

if we could get indictments,

in your opinion, who would we get?

How high?

Maybe Attorney General.

What about the president?

What about the president?

If the president's lying...

Is the president lying?

They're all lying.

Then, yes.

Maybe the president.

RICHARD NIXON:

As the investigations went forward,

I repeatedly asked

those conducting the investigation

whether there was any reason to believe

that members of my administration

were in any way involved.

I received repeated assurances

that there were none.

I discounted the stories in the press.

DICK CAVETT:
Who do you think gave

the orders to bug the Watergate?

RICHARD KLEINDIENSTCK: Well,

the persons who the grand jury indicted

in Washington, DC, last week,

gave the orders to do it.

You don't think

they were following orders, then?

- No, I do not.

- There's nobody higher?

There has been no evidence

presented that anybody did that.

I think the opposition is disappointed

that after such a thorough,

intensive investigation

that just seven persons were indicted.

NEWS ANCHOR:
The Watergate break-in

took a dramatic turn

when one of the defendants,

former White House consultant E. Howard Hunt,

changed his plea to guilty.

REPORTER:
The judge accepted

the guilty pleas of the four Miami men

on the condition

that they answer his questions

on who else was involved in Watergate.

With the crucial questions

of who, and what, were behind it all

still unanswered.

GRAY:
I got a call from across the river.

- MARK:
Which river is that?

- GRAY:
The Potomac.

The CIA.

The CIA is telling us we need to taper off.

Taper off?

- GRAY:
We're getting too close.

- MARK:
Too close to what?

I can't tell you.

You can't, or you won't?

It's a matter of national security.

NIXON:
We are doing everything that

we can to investigate this incident.

No one on the White House staff,

no one in this administration

was involved in this very bizarre incident.

GRAY:
The CIA is telling us

we need to taper off.

MAN:
Disappointed. Disappointed.

NIXON:
No one in this administration...

GRAY:
We're getting too close.

It's a matter of national security.

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

NEWS ANCHOR:
A bomb exploded

early this morning in the Pentagon

and left-wing terrorists

telephoned newspapers

to say they were responsible.

People calling themselves members

of the Weather Underground...

- Yes?

- GRAY:
Are you watching this?

I see it.

- GRAY:
What about the White House?

- It's at the top of their list.

I told you that three months ago.

- GRAY:
But can they really hit it?

- They just hit the Pentagon.

I want us to open files on every member

of every counterculture organization

in the country.

Hunt them to exhaustion. No holds barred.

The president is fighting

for the White House.

That's not my job.

The president needs order.

I promised the president he'd have order.

(SIGHS)

GRAY:
Which brings me to my next point, Felt.

I spoke to the Attorney General.

The Attorney General

is going to officially announce

we have found nothing

connecting the president on Watergate.

What? But that's not real.

I know. And the president knows

you are still pursuing it.

You're never going to find

what you're chasing.

I want it to end. It's time to finish it.

Shut it down.

I hear you and your wife

are registered Democrats, Mark.

I hope you're not going

to let that get in the way.

MARK:
The Weather Underground,

they're combining.

They're multiplying.

We'll never get warrants. Not now.

Warrants?

We're not talking about the kids

sleeping out there in the parks.

We're talking about people who would

burn your children alive in their beds.

People die because we stick

to the letter of the law,

we lose everything, including the law.

We're taking off the gloves.

Entries, taps, nothing on paper.

No warrants.

Mr. Miller's people report to Mr. Miller.

Mr. Miller reports to me.

Just like the bad old days.

Where's Bill Sullivan when you need him?

He's over at the White House,

protecting the nation by spying

on senators and their mistresses

while we're here just trying to

keep all this goddamn mess together.

Hey, look.

We're on your side here.

All I'm saying is, all that was behind us.

Even Hoover knew the dirty stuff was over.

That's why Bill's gone.

All I'm saying is, everyone is watching.

How many more kids do we have to lose?

How many more

do we let just vanish into eternity?

I am not Bill Sullivan.

This is still the goddamn FBI.

I don't want to intrude.

Then don't.

You heard from her?

Joan.

You think she's involved with all this?

The Underground?

How could she?

She's just like me. Exactly like me.

She worships you.

She's okay.

I can feel it, Mark.

There's a price to pay for what we do,

Mr. Miller.

There's a price to pay for what we become.

We all pay it, one way or another.

RICHARD KLEINDIENSTCK:

Watergate was the most intensive,

objective and thorough investigation

in the history of the

US Attorney's office and the FBI.

The Justice Department has now completed

its criminal investigation

without implicating any present official

of either the White House

or the Committee to Re-elect the President.

- Completed?

- KLEINDIENSTCK:
Any questions?

What the hell, man?

Get me Felt on the phone.

- DEAN:
As to the White House?

- Hold on, hold on. Wait a second.

I understand the FBI's Watergate

investigation is in a state of repose

and unlikely to be reopened.

Anybody tell us this was over yet?

Get me Felt on the phone! Or Bates!

God damn it, get me Felt!

- She can't.

- Why the hell not?

'Cause he's right there.

And now, let's return to the press

conference of the US Attorney General.

Maybe she's dead.

Maybe she just gave up.

Didn't think anybody cared.

Maybe she's right out there watching us.

To see what a man like you does

when your daughter just vanishes one night

for no good reason.

Joan had a reason for everything.

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