Editing Watergate scandal (section)

=== Kidnapping of Martha Mitchell ===
{{main|Martha Mitchell#June 1972 kidnapping, aftermath and vindication}}

[[Martha Mitchell]] was the wife of Nixon's [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]], [[John N. Mitchell]], who had recently resigned his role so that he could become campaign manager for Nixon's [[Committee for the Re-Election of the President]] (CRP). John Mitchell was aware that Martha knew McCord, one of the Watergate burglars who had been arrested, and that upon finding out, she was likely to speak to the media. In his opinion, her knowing McCord was likely to link the Watergate burglary to Nixon. John Mitchell instructed guards in her security detail not to let her contact the media.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Brockell|first=Gillian|title='I'm a political prisoner': Mouthy Martha Mitchell was the George Conway of the Nixon era|language=en-US|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/21/im-political-prisoner-how-martha-mitchell-became-george-conway-nixon-era/|access-date=November 17, 2020|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=November 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125022741/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/21/im-political-prisoner-how-martha-mitchell-became-george-conway-nixon-era/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In June 1972, during a phone call with [[United Press International]] reporter [[Helen Thomas]], Martha Mitchell informed Thomas that she was leaving her husband until he resigned from the CRP.<ref name="Cadden">{{Cite web |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20Materials/Watergate/Watergate%20Items%2004357%20to%2004655/Watergate%2004358.pdf |title=Martha Mitchell: the Day the Laughing Stopped |last=Cadden |first=Vivian |date=July 1973 |website=The Harold Weisberg Archive |publisher=McCall's Magazine |access-date=October 14, 2019 |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622233058/http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20Materials/Watergate/Watergate%20Items%2004357%20to%2004655/Watergate%2004358.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The phone call ended abruptly. A few days later, [[Marcia Kramer]], a veteran crime reporter of the ''[[New York Daily News]]'', tracked Mitchell to the [[Westchester Country Club]] in Rye, New York, and described Mitchell as "a beaten woman" with visible bruises.<ref name="STEIN">{{Cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/29/donald-trump-watergate-stephen-king-martha-mitchell-richard-nixon-john-744823.html |title=Trump Ambassador Beat and 'Kidnapped' Woman in Watergate Cover-Up: Reports |last=Stein |first=Jeff |date=December 11, 2017 |website=Newsweek |access-date=September 12, 2019 |archive-date=September 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901183117/https://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/29/donald-trump-watergate-stephen-king-martha-mitchell-richard-nixon-john-744823.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Mitchell reported that, during the week following the Watergate burglary, she had been held captive in a hotel in California, and that security guard [[Steve King (ambassador)|Steve King]] ended her call to Thomas by pulling the phone cord from the wall.<ref name="STEIN" /><ref name="Cadden" /> Mitchell made several attempts to escape via the balcony, but was physically accosted, injured, and forcefully sedated by a psychiatrist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reeves |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/presidentnixon00rich |title=President Nixon : alone in the White House |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2002 |isbn=0-7432-2719-0 |edition=1st Touchstone ed. 2002. |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/presidentnixon00rich/page/511 511] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McLendon |first=Winzola |url=https://archive.org/details/marthalifeofmart00mcle |title=Martha: The Life of Martha Mitchell |year=1979 |publisher=Random House |isbn=9780394411248 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Following conviction for his role in the Watergate burglary, in February 1975, McCord admitted that Mitchell had been "basically kidnapped", and corroborated her reports of the event.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/02/19/archives/mccord-declares-that-mrs-mitchell-was-forcibly-held-comment-from.html |title=McCord Declares That Mrs. Mitchell Was Forcibly Held |date=February 19, 1975 |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 12, 2019 |archive-date=October 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020100156/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/02/19/archives/mccord-declares-that-mrs-mitchell-was-forcibly-held-comment-from.html |url-status=live }}</ref>