n administration began a cover-up of McCord's connection with the White House. Memos and written files connecting him and his superior, Hunt, to the White House were destroyed. More than $187,000 in bribes - "hush money" - was paid to Hunt, McCord, and the other burglars to keep them from discussing their ties to the White House. Jeb Magruder and John Mitchell denied any association to Hunt and McCord before a grand jury.A cover story was made up by White House chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, domestic policy assistant John Erlichman, and the president's lawyer John Dean. They were to say that the burglary was part of a CIA operative, vital to national security. On June 23, 1972, President Nixon authorized the cover-up, but the CIA refused to cooperate. So the Nixon administration successfully applied political pressure to delay several trials and investigations of the burglary until early 1973. Nixon ordered his aides to block any information to investigators.Magruder and others destroyed incriminating documents and testified falsely to official investigators. L. Patrick Gray, acting director of the FBI, destroyed documents given to him by Ehrlichman and Dean. Collapse of the Cover-upIn January of 1973 seven indicted men were tried before Judge John Sirica in the United States District Court in Washington, D.C. Four of the men arrested the night of the burglary plead guilty along with Howard Hunt. James McCord and Gordon Liddy were convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping. The United States Senate then voted to conduct an investigation of political espionage.During hearings on his nomination to be permanent director of the FBI, L. Patrick Gray revealed that he had given FBI Watergate files to John Dean. His testimony suggested that other top White House aides were involved in confidential activities.In March and April Nixon met with top aides to plan responses to the Gray announcements and to prepare for i...
