Sunday, December 21, 2008

"Deep Throat" and the Weather Underground

Since I've mentioned Richard Nixon in my last two post, a first for me, now is a good time as any to mention the death of Mark Felt, the FBI official who was Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's "Deep Throat" source for his Watergate scandal reports.

Felt ran into his own legal problems after Watergate faded into the background.

Scandal engulfed him and his family when, after Watergate, he was prosecuted for ordering "black-bag jobs," or secret, warrantless break-ins that in 1972 and 1973 targeted friends and relatives of members of the leftist group Weather Underground. His wife could not bear the trial. Even after Felt's 1980 conviction and his subsequent pardon by President Reagan, her health and stability continued to decline.

Felt's wife committed suicide in 1984.

The illegal surveillance of the terror group allowed Bill Ayers, a leader of the terror group who later befriended President-elect Barack Obama, to escape prosecution for his crimes. Evidence gathered against him was tossed out.

After receiving his legal clean bill of health, Ayers quipped, "Guilty as sin, free as a bird, what a country."

H/T to ThirdWaveDave for the reminder on Felt and the Weather Underground.

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