Video: 'CBS NEWS SPECIAL REPORT: Richard Nixon Press Conference (I am not a crook)'

(Saturday, November 17, 1973, 7:02 p.m. EST; during the Watergate scandal) — Declaring that “I am not a crook,” U.S. President Richard Nixon vigorously defended his record in the Watergate case tonight and said he had never profited from his public service.

In an hour-long televised question-and-answer session with 400 Associated Press managing editors, Nixon was tense and sometimes misspoke.

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But he maintained his innocence in the Watergate case and promised to supply more details on his personal finances and more evidence from tapes and presidential documents.

“I made my mistakes, but in all of my years of public life I have never profited, never profited from public service. I’ve earned every cent,” he said.

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“And in all of my years in public life I have never oh structed justice. And I think, too, that I can say that in my years of public life that I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well I’m not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got.”

The statement came in response to a question from reporter Joseph Ungaro of The Providence Journal about a Journal report that he had only paid $792 in income taxes in 1970 and $878 in 1971.