Watergate at 50: The political scandal that changed Washington

US: Today, June 17 marks the 50th anniversary of the Watergate scandal which was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of former US President Richard Nixon that led to Nixon’s resignation.

The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration’s continual attempts to cover up its involvement in the June 17, 1972, break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C., Watergate Office Building. After the five perpetrators were arrested, the press and the US Justice Department connected the cash found on them at the time to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President.

Further investigations, along with revelations during subsequent trials of the burglars, led the U.S. House of Representatives to grant the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary additional investigation authority to probe into “certain matters within its jurisdiction”, and the US Senate to create the US Senate Watergate Committee. Witnesses testified that Nixon had approved plans to cover up administration involvement in the break-in, and that there was a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office.[6][7] Throughout the investigation, the administration resisted its probes, which led to a constitutional crisis which prompted the House of Representatives in 1973 to commence an impeachment process against then President Nixon.

The US Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to release the Oval Office tapes to government investigators and the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against the President for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. – YAHOO NEWS