Video: 'Impeachment Hearings July 1974' (opening remarks by committee chairman Rep. Peter Rodino)

(Wednesday, July 24, 1974, 7:00 p.m. EDT; during the Watergate scandal) — The House Judiciary Committee began historic final deliberations tonight on the possible impeachment of President Richard Nixon without waiting to determine whether new evidence might emerge as a result of a Supreme Court judgment earlier today.

Barely eight hours after a unanimous Court ruled that the president must obey subpoenas for Watergate trial evidence and shortly after the White House announced that Nixon would do so, the Judiciary Committee began debating whether to recommend a Senate trial for the president himself for alleged misconduct in office.