WATERGATE SCANDAL On the early morning of June 17, 1972, five burglars were caught inside the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. The burglars, who had been attempting to tap the headquarters’ phones, were linked to President Richard Nixon’s Committee to Re-elect the President. The Nixon administration, long before the Watergate break-in, had been very careful, almost paranoid, about their public image, and did everything they could to avoid unfavorable …showed first 75 words of 653 total…

…showed last 75 words of 653 total…of the scandal was broke wide open, starting with the prosecution of seven men arrested in connection with the break-in. On January 10, 1973, opening statements in the break-in trial began. The nations attention began to shift to the Watergate affair, while Judge John J. Sirica presided over the case. The seven men, Barker, Gonzalez, Martinez, Sturgis, McCord, Liddy, and Hunt, were charged with various counts of conspiracy, illegal wiretapping, burglary, and illegal possession of eavesdropping equipment.