Summary
The New York Times breaks a story about phone calls from an office in Miami to CREEP, the Committee to Re-Elect the President. $89,000 was exchanged between CREEP and a prominent Mexican lawyer. Woodward and Bernstein redouble their efforts. Bernstein tracks down a friend at the phone company who brings up District Attorney Mr. Dardis in Miami, Florida. Bernstein flies to Miami to meet with the D.A. who keeps him waiting all day to see him. Finally, when the secretary leaves, Bernstein barges in and confronts Dardis about delaying their meeting. Finally, Dardis shows Bernstein all of his information linking the Committee to Reelect the President to burglars via a check for $25,000 from a man named Kenneth H. Dahlberg.
Bernstein calls Woodward and tells him about the connection, urging him to break the story before The New York Times does. Woodward has a researcher look for information on Dahlberg, which she cannot find, except for the picture. Woodward gets Dahlberg's number and calls him to ask why his check ended up in the bank account of one of the Watergate burglars, Mr. Barker. Dahlberg is cagey, and says he is simply the Midwest chair and fundraiser for the Committee to Re-Elect the President. Woodward presses him on how his funds ended up in the bank account of one of the burglars, and Dahlberg hangs up the phone.
Woodward then calls up the Committee to Re-Elect the President and speaks to the head, Mr. McGregor. When Woodward asks about the check, Mr. McGregor gets defensive and says he doesn't know anything about the check because he just took over from John Mitchell. Dahlberg then calls back and asks to speak to Woodward. Woodward puts McGregor on hold, and Dahlberg admits that he gave a cashier's check to Maurice Stans, the head of the Finance committee for the Nixon campaign. This is a big deal; Bernstein calls with more information on Dahlberg just as Woodward gets this information. Woodward tells Bernstein that he has Dahlberg down on record connecting the check to Stans.
A headline is shown in the Washington Post: "Bug Suspect Got Campaign Funds" by Woodward and Bernstein.
At a meeting of editors, the staff discuss which stories will make the front page, discussing the dismissal of McGovern running-mate Thomas Eagleton. Many of the editors cast doubts on the abilities of Woodward and Bernstein and the credibility of the story. There's also a lingering question: why would the Republican Nixon campaign burglarize the DNC when the Democrats are so clearly self-destructing?
Bradlee calls Woodward and Bernstein into his office. He casts doubt on the investigation; it doesn't make sense for the Nixon campaign to be participating in illegal activity. Woodward says he's working on a list of CREEP employees but he hasn't had any luck yet. Bradlee replies, "get some." Bernstein admonished Woodward for making it seem like they don't have a plan; Bradlee needs specifics. Woodward suddenly remembers that Kay Eddy, who works at the Post, dated a guy who works for CREEP. Woodward and Bernstein ask Eddy if she can get them a list of CREEP employees. She refuses; they are no longer engaged. Bernstein presses her, but Woodward senses the prospect of using her ex-fiancé for contacts upsets her and he lets her off the hook.
The next day, she provides the list. Woodward and Bernstein arrive at the homes of as many as they can. They have multiple doors slammed in their face, but they do make progress: a woman who was involved with CREEP confirms the shredding of documents, and urges Woodward and Bernstein to leave "before they see you." It's clear that someone upset her and encouraged her to hus up. They keep trying the list, at one point humorously mixing up a Judith and Caroline Abbot.
Nixon is renominated for the Presidency by Gerald Ford. They approach a woman who was an accountant for CREEP, who gives Bernstein additional information. She says $350,000 was given to 15 people, but the list was destroyed. CREEP is raising obscene amounts of money, upwards of 6 million 2 days. She mentions Hugh Sloan as the "fall guy," who was going to take the heat for the mistakes of others. She confirms Hugh Sloan was going to quit. On the subject of former attorney general John Mitchell, she turns sour: "if you guys could get John Mitchell, that would be beautiful." There's a sense she disagrees with him and by "get" she insinuates that he's committed a crime. She gives Bernstein initials of people involved in the slush fund: (L, M). She then says this plot goes high up, possibly into the administration.
Analysis
Now things are getting complicated. This part of the film is all about taking Deep Throat's advice: follow the money. The details are very tricky, however, a few specific major developments occur in of this section of the investigation.
The first big development is a discovery in Miami: a financial link between the burglars and the Committee to Re-Elect the President. Ken Dahlberg's cashier's check ended up in the pockets of the five men arrested. This is a big deal because it proves that the burglars were on the payroll of a political arm of the Nixon administration. When Woodward calls Dahlberg, Dahlberg panics, and instead moves the blame onto Maurice Stans, the finance director for the Nixon Administration. Thus another person is linked to the scandal. The trail of money is checking out just as Deep Throat said.
Woodward and Bernstein publish a story that suggests wrongdoing on the part of the Nixon campaign, but nothing is linked to the administration—yet. Even though these connections are being made, the paper editors feel there's a snag. Nixon is clearly the favorite to win the presidency. Why would they do anything illegal to ensure what is already a sure thing? As we will find out, the dirty tricks of the administration are precisely why the Nixon reelect seems like a sure thing. However, all of the pieces are not in order yet in the minds of the editors.
Feeling that they've hit a brick wall, Bernstein and Woodward turn to leveraging their personal connections. Kay Eddy, one of their coworkers, used to date a man involved in the Nixon campaign. They ask her to use this connection to get them a list of CREEP employees. She refuses; she doesn't feel comfortable. This is where we see the juxtaposition between the styles of Woodward and Bernstein. Bernstein is prepared to keep pushing, Woodward advocates allowing her to come to them. Woodward is right.
Kay gets them the list of CREEP employees, and the real search begins. This montage sequence shows just how many sources of information are now available to the pair of them. The real development is the identification of the slush fund by the accountant, who ties CREEP directly to the administration. John Mitchell, former attorney general, was the chairman of CREEP. The accountant strongly hints that she doesn't agree with how he does business. She hopes they "get" John Mitchell. But for what?
