Editing Weather Underground (section)

==COINTELPRO==
{{Main|COINTELPRO}}

===Event===
In April 1971, the "[[Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI]]" broke into an FBI office in [[Media, Pennsylvania]].<ref>David Cunningham, ''There's Something Happening Here: the New Left, the Klan, and FBI Counterintelligence'', (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), p. 33.</ref> The group stole files with several hundred pages. The files detailed the targeting of civil rights leaders, labor rights organizations, and left-wing groups in general, and included documentation of acts of intimidation and disinformation by the FBI and attempts to erode public support for those popular movements. By the end of April, the FBI offices were to terminate all files dealing with leftist groups.<ref>David Cunningham, ''There's Something Happening Here: the New Left, the Klan, and FBI Counterintelligence'', (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), p. 35.</ref> The files were part of an FBI program called COINTELPRO.<ref>[http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113101622/http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm|date=January 13, 2013}}</ref>

After COINTELPRO was dissolved in 1971 by J. Edgar Hoover,<ref>Nelson Blackstock, ''Cointelpro: The FBI's Secret War on Political Freedom'', (New York: Anchor Foundation, 1990), 185.</ref> the FBI continued its counterintelligence on groups like the Weather Underground. In 1973, the FBI established the "Special Target Information Development" program, where agents were sent undercover to penetrate the Weather Underground. Due to the illegal tactics of FBI agents involved with the program, government attorneys requested all weapons- and bomb-related charges be dropped against the Weather Underground. The most well-publicized of these tactics were the "[[Black bag operation|black-bag jobs]]," referring to searches conducted in the homes of relatives and acquaintances of Weatherman.{{sfn|Varon|2004|p=292-298}} The Weather Underground was no longer a fugitive organization and could turn themselves in with minimal charges against them.{{sfn|Varon|2004|p=292-298}} Additionally, the illegal domestic spying conducted by the CIA in collaboration with the FBI also lessened the legal repercussions for Weatherman turning themselves in.{{sfn|Varon|2004|pp=292–298}}

===Investigation and trial===
After the [[Church Committee]] revealed the FBI's illegal activities, many agents were investigated. In 1976, former FBI Associate Director W. [[Mark Felt]] publicly stated he had ordered break-ins and that individual agents were merely obeying orders and should not be punished for it. Felt also stated that acting Director [[L. Patrick Gray]] had also authorized the break-ins, but Gray denied this. Felt said on the CBS television program ''Face the Nation'' that he would probably be a "[[scapegoat]]" for the Bureau's work.<ref>John Crewdson (August 30, 1976), "Ex-F.B.I. Aide Sees 'Scapegoat' Role", ''The New York Times'', p. 21.</ref> "I think this is justified and I'd do it again tomorrow," he said on the program. While admitting the break-ins were "extralegal," he justified it as protecting the "greater good." Felt said, "To not take action against these people and know of a bombing in advance would simply be to stick your fingers in your ears and protect your eardrums when the explosion went off and then start the investigation."

The Attorney General in the new [[Carter administration]], [[Griffin Bell]], investigated, and on April 10, 1978, a federal grand jury charged Felt, [[Edward S. Miller]], and Gray with conspiracy to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens by searching their homes without warrants. The case did not go to trial and was dropped by the government for lack of evidence on December 11, 1980.{{sfn|Jacobs|1971}}{{page needed|date=November 2024}}

The indictment charged violations of Title 18, Section 241 of the [[United States Code]]. The indictment charged Felt and the others "did unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree together and with each other to injure and oppress citizens of the United States who were relatives and acquaintances of the Weatherman fugitives, in the free exercise and enjoyments of certain rights and privileges secured to them by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America.<ref>Felt, FBI Pyramid, p. 333.</ref>

Felt and Miller attempted to plea bargain with the government, willing to agree to a misdemeanor guilty plea to conducting searches without warrants—a violation of 18 U.S.C. sec. 2236—but the government rejected the offer in 1979. After eight postponements, the case against Felt and Miller went to trial in the [[United States District Court for the District of Columbia]] on September 18, 1980.<ref>Robert Pear: "Conspiracy Trial for 2 Ex-F.B.I. Officials Accused in Break-ins", ''The New York Times'', September 19, 1980; & "Long Delayed Trial Over F.B.I. Break-ins to Start in Capital Tomorrow", ''The New York Times'', September 14, 1980, p. 30.</ref> On October 29, former President [[Richard Nixon]] appeared as a rebuttal witness for the defense, and testified that presidents since [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] had authorized the bureau to engage in break-ins while conducting foreign intelligence and counterespionage investigations.<ref>Robert Pear, "Testimony by Nixon Heard in F.B.I. Trial", ''The New York Times'', October 30, 1980.</ref>

It was Nixon's first courtroom appearance since his resignation in 1974. Nixon also contributed money to Felt's legal defense fund, with Felt's legal expenses running over $600,000. Also testifying were former Attorneys General [[Herbert Brownell Jr.]], [[Nicholas Katzenbach]], [[Ramsey Clark]], [[John N. Mitchell]], and [[Richard G. Kleindienst]], all of whom said warrantless searches in [[national security]] matters were commonplace and not understood to be illegal, but Mitchell and Kleindienst denied they had authorized any of the break-ins at issue in the trial.

The jury returned guilty verdicts on November 6, 1980. Although the charge carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, Felt was fined $5,000. (Miller was fined $3,500.)<ref>Kessler, F.B.I.: Inside the Agency, p. 194.</ref> Writing in ''[[The New York Times]]'' a week after the conviction, [[Roy Cohn]] claimed that Felt and Miller were being used as scapegoats by the Carter administration and that it was an unfair prosecution. Cohn wrote it was the "final dirty trick" and that there had been no "personal motive" for their actions.<ref>Roy Cohn, "Stabbing the F.B.I.", ''The New York Times'', November 15, 1980, p. 20.</ref>

''[[The New York Times|The Times]]'' saluted the convictions, saying that it showed "the case has established that zeal is no excuse for violating the Constitution".<ref>"The Right Punishment for F.B.I. Crimes." (Editorial), ''The New York Times'', December 18, 1980.</ref> Felt and Miller appealed the verdict, and they were later pardoned by [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1981/41581d.htm |title=Statement on Granting Pardons to W. Mark Felt and Edward S. Miller |publisher=Reagan.utexas.edu |date=1981-04-15 |access-date=June 2, 2010 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924085227/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1981/41581d.htm }}</ref>