Video: 'From the archives: Nixon's Watergate "smoking gun" tape released'

(Monday, August 5, 1974, approximately 4:30 p.m. EDT; during the Watergate scandal) — In a sharp setback to his fight against impeachment, U.S. President Richard Nixon admitted this afternoon that six days after the Watergate burglary he ordered a halt to the investigation of the break?in for political as well as national security reasons and that he kept the evidence from his lawyers and supporters on the House Judiciary Committee.

Nixon made the admission in a statement accompanying the release of transcripts of three conversations on June 23, 1972, which he said might further damage his case against impeachment.

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It is “virtually a foregone conclusion,” the President added, that the House Would vote to impeach him but he said he hoped the Senate would look at all the evidence in perspective” and vote to acquit him.

James D. St. Clair, the President’s chief lawyer, briefing Republican Senators on what he called “bad news,” said that Nixon would not resign because the President felt it would be setting a precedent for removing future presidents from office.

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The President disclosed that he had tried to keep the Federal Bureau of Investigation from pursuing an investigation of the source of the money that financed the Watergate break-in.

This was widely regarded in Congress as an admission of guilt to the charge of obstructing justice — a criminal offense — made in Article I of the committee’s impeachment resolution. It was cited by several former supporters on the Judiciary Committee in announcing that they would now vote for impeachment.

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Although Nixon’s motives were not entirely clear, it was evident that, knowing the information would eventually be made public, he chose to put his own interpretation on it, as he did when releasing the first White House transcripts on Apr. 30, 1974.

The three transcripts released today were of conversations with the President’s former chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, six days after the Watergate burglary. These were among the tapes Nixon had turned over to Judge John J. Sirica under Supreme Court orders.

Video: 'Nixon: raw watergate tape: 'smoking gun' section'

The President said he was making the tapes public so they could be used by the House in its impeachment debate, tentatively scheduled to begin on Aug. 19. He added that Judge Sirica was reviewing the first of about 64 conversations and other materials subpoenaed for the trial of some Watergate defendants, but it was unlikely this review would be completed in time for the House debate.

“At this stage, it appears that a House vote of impeachment is, as a practical matter, a foregone conclusion, and that the issue will go to trial in the Senate,” Nixon said. “To ensure that no significant relevant materials are withheld, I will voluntarily provide the Senate with everything from these tapes that Judge Sirica rules should go to the special prosecutor.”

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In a statement released tonight at the White House, Vice President Gerald Ford said he would have no comment on the President’s action because he had not heard the tapes in question or read transcripts of them.

Ford concluded, “the public interest is no longer served” by repeating his belief that the evidence he was aware of did not constitute an impeachable offense.