Nixon Gives Defense On Watergate Scandal; Secret Service Asked To Testify On Lewinsky Scandal: Today In History

May 22, 2017, is the 142nd day of the year, with 223 days remaining. The moon is in a waning crescent phase, with illumination at 25 percent.

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Watergate: Nixon issues seven-point defense

The hearings on the Watergate affair began May 17, 1973, and five days later, President Richard Nixon confessed to his role in the cover-up. He released a statement surrounding accusations of his involvement in activities he claimed he had never heard of “until [he] read about them in news accounts.”

He listed seven points in his defense: no prior knowledge of the Watergate operation, no involvement or awareness of subsequent efforts to cover, no authorization of clemency for the Watergate defendants, no prior knowledge of funds afforded to the Watergate defendants, no attempt or authorization toward implicating the CIA in the Watergate matter, no prior knowledge of the break-in at the office of activist Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist and no authorization or encouragement of subordinates to engage in illegal or importer campaign tactics.

Ultimately, however, after a long series of denials of his involvement, Nixon admitted to his failure in supervision and in checking the illegal acts committed by the Watergate defendants.

“With hindsight, it is apparent that I should have given more heed to the warning signals I received along the way about a Watergate cover-up,” Nixon said.

Secret Service agents asked to testify against President Clinton

In 1998, U.S. federal judge Norma Holloway Johnson ruled that U.S. Secret Service agents could be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Monica Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton.

“I don’t think anybody ever considered doing this before, but we’re living in a time without precedent, where actions are being taken without precedent, and we just have to live with the consequences,” the president said.

The Justice Department and the Secret Service released a countering statement.

“We continue to believe that any action that could distance the Secret Service from the president increases the danger to his life and that of future presidents. While the court did recognize that the Secret Service’s views are legitimate, we are concerned that the court did not fully appreciate the impact that its decision could have on the safety of the president and other people the Secret Service protects,” the parties expressed.

Ultimately, Independent Counsel Ken Starr enlisted two grand juries to hear testimony on the matter from several Secret Service agents and officers, including Larry Cockell, who had been the lead agent on Clinton’s security detail.

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